Supreme Court Allows Texas and Missouri GOP-Drawn Congressional Maps to Stand for 2026 Elections

In August 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a new congressional map redrawing district boundaries to favor Republicans, following pressure from President Trump earlier that year to help shore up the GOP's narrow U.S. House majority ahead of the 2026 midterms. The map aimed to shift up to five Democratic-held seats toward Republicans. In November 2025, a three-judge federal panel blocked the map, finding plaintiffs likely to succeed in proving racial gerrymandering, but on April 27, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a summary reversal, allowing the map to be used through at least 2030; Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office characterized the outcome as a successful defense of the map, while the Brennan Center described the underlying lower-court findings as identifying racially discriminatory redistricting. Separately, in Missouri, Republicans redrew the state's congressional map during a special session to target Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's district; Governor Mike Kehoe said the "Missouri First Map" ensured fair representation. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled the map constitutional and ordered it used in the August primary, citing uncertainty over whether a referendum petition to repeal it would succeed. State Sen. Hoskins called the ruling a win for Republicans but cautioned against underestimating Cleaver. Both the Texas and Missouri rulings occurred amid a broader national battle for congressional control, with reporting noting a related U.S. Supreme Court decision affecting Voting Rights Act enforcement. As of the most recent reporting, both maps are set to be used in their respective 2026 election cycles, with Texas's map cleared through 2030 pending no further legal reversal. Analysts note that shifting Latino voter patterns in Texas, evidenced by a January special election and March primary results, could complicate Republican efforts to convert the new map into additional seats. In Virginia, a separate Democratic-backed map targeting four Republican incumbents faces multiple GOP lawsuits, with the state Supreme Court having heard arguments; the outcome of that litigation remains unresolved. Sources differ in characterizing the Texas map as either a valid legislative redistricting or a racially discriminatory gerrymander, a dispute not resolved by the Supreme Court's procedural ruling.