President Donald Trump scored another major political victory Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas to move forward with a congressional map designed to expand Republican power in the 2026 midterm elections.
In a sharply divided ruling, the Court halted a lower court decision that found the map likely discriminates against Hispanic and Black voters. The conservative majority said the lower court acted too close to primary season and overstepped its authority.
“The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign,” the majority wrote, accusing the judges of disrupting the federal-state balance in election oversight.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the Court’s liberal bloc, condemned the move, saying the majority brushed aside extensive testimony and evidence gathered during a nine-day hearing.
“We are a higher court… but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based decision,” Kagan wrote, arguing the district court’s ruling deserved deference.
Texas Republicans redrew the map mid-decade at the urging of the Trump administration, sparking similar efforts in other GOP-led states and a wave of legal battles.
While Democrats are still projected by University of Virginia analysts to be favored in 2026, that landscape could shift depending on a pending Supreme Court case from Louisiana that may open the door to additional redistricting across the South.
Analyst Kyle Kondik at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics said Republicans could gain multiple new districts if the ruling comes quickly.
Texas GOP lawmakers designed their new map to potentially net up to five additional seats. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 U.S. House districts, a slim but critical margin for maintaining control of Congress and protecting Trump’s agenda from a barrage of Democratic investigations in the next term.
