Republicans are plowing forward with plans for redistricting in several other states now that Texas is poised to approve its newly redrawn maps.

The Lone Star State kicked off the redistricting arms race when Republicans in the state Legislature agreed to move forward with rewriting their congressional lines at the insistence of President Trump.

Now, as Democrats in California look to counter Texas with their own redistricting plan, the GOP is setting its sights on states from Florida to Indiana to Missouri, signaling a new phase of the fight.

“There's not much more Democrats can do at this point, which is kind of part and parcel of the Republican reason behind doing this,” said Missouri Republican strategist Gregg Keller. “The question is whether or not we are going to unilaterally disarm as a party in the face of what they have done.”

Texas may have been the start of this year’s escalating redistricting battle, but it’s far from the end. National attention swung to the Lone Star State after Trump’s call on Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to take the rare but not unprecedented step of calling a special legislative session to conduct mid-decade redistricting.

With as many as five likely pickup opportunities in the proposed map for next year, Texas Republicans are better positioned than those in any other state to increase their party’s chances of holding control of the House.

But if California voters approve a ballot measure to let the state Legislature redraw its map for the rest of the decade, Democrats could also pick up as many as five additional seats there in the midterms. That raises the stakes for states that may only be able to add on one or two extra seats but could prove critical to next year’s election results.

Florida is the other state potentially comparable to........

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