How voters can fight gerrymandering in an era of remapping wars

It began with the president asking Texas to redraw its congressional map to give Republicans additional House seats in the 2026 midterm elections.  

This prompted California to redraw its map, giving Democrats a comparable number of additional seats to balance the Texas gains. Virginians voted for a redraw, which would have given Democrats additional seats, until the state Supreme Court nullified the vote. Then Florida followed suit with a new map to give Republicans additional seats. Several other states are now redrawing their maps or plan to do so to effect partisan advantages.  

As one state gives seats, another takes them away.  

The likely end result in the battle for control of the House is a modest edge for Republicans. But there is a problem here. For voters, representation is no longer determined on Election Day. It will have already been carved out by state legislators who control the House map-drawing processes, effectively making voters innocent pawns in a high-stakes war to control the levers of government in Washington. 

Holding a majority in the House is about more than having nicer offices on Capitol Hill. It is about holding the Speaker’s gavel and controlling the chairmanships for committees that ultimately carve out laws and dictate how taxpayer dollars are spent. The 2026 midterms are particularly important; if Republican lose their majority in the House, the president will be more constrained. The 119th Congress has ignored its responsibility to maintain the necessary checks and balances on the executive branch. If Democrats regain a House majority, that will come to an abrupt end on Jan. 3, 2027, when the 120th Congress convenes. 

What’s more, the damage done by this remapping chaos will........

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