The Supreme Court handed Republicans a huge victory this week by deciding to uphold the congressional redistricting map the GOP lawmakers in the state created over the summer, after a lower court claimed it violated the Constitution by drawing the lines based on race. Now, thanks to the new ruling, Republicans in the House of Representatives could potentially pull in 5 additional seats, helping them in the midterm elections to hold on to control of the House.
The big win comes after President Donald Trump applied a healthy amount of pressure to Texas and several other GOP-led states to redraw the maps in order to benefit the Republican Party. And the Lone Star State is not the only state that could yield additional seats for conservatives. In fact, the GOP could walk away next year with a total of 12 new seats.
Another state that could pull in two extra seats depending on whether Republicans actually put effort into redrawing the districts is Indiana. Unfortunately, there are several Republicans in the Indiana House that are putting up resistance to the idea. A House panel advanced a newly drawn map on Tuesday. The new map will go before the House for a full vote.
The Indiana Senate will convene and make a “final decision” concerning redistricting proposals from the House. As of this writing, it’s not clear if there is enough Republican support in the Senate to pass the new map. Two seats might not seem like a lot, but with Republicans having a razor-thin margin of control over the House right now, every seat counts.
Florida could also play a big role in helping Republicans not only maintain their control over the House, but increase it significantly. If they redistrict, they could, like Texas, bring in a total of five new seats. A Florida House redistricting panel will be meeting for the first time in order to move forward with new maps.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, stated in a recent interview, that he’s planning to call a special session, which will meet between March and May of next year. However, Republicans aren’t the only ones engaging in redistricting efforts. Democrats are working their worst evil magic in California to increase the number of seats available to them in an attempt to snatch control of Congress away from Republicans.
Voters in the Golden State voted last month to pass Proposition 50 into law, according to The Hill. This proposition creates five additional seats for Democrats. The Trump administration immediately sought to fight against the move by claiming Democrats are “engaged in unconstitutional racial gerrymandering” and accused state lawmakers of violating the Constitution “when it drew new congressional district lines based on race, specifically to favor Hispanic voters, without cause or evidence to justify it.”
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California Democrats decided to join the redistricting wars by crafting the November special election on the proposition in response to Texas Republicans pushing to move forward with their new GOP-friendly map. A federal panel is set to hold a hearing to hear the Republican Party’s case on December 15.