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How have Texas congressional districts changed since the 2020 redistricting?
Executive summary
Texas gained two U.S. House seats after the 2020 census, bringing its total to 38 congressional districts under maps enacted in 2021 (the post‑2020 apportionment and S.B.6 plan) [1]. In 2025 the Republican‑led legislature passed a mid‑decade congressional map designed to produce up to five additional GOP‑leaning seats (shifting toward roughly 30 GOP / 8 Democratic seats in some proposals), but a federal three‑judge panel ruled in November 2025 that the 2025 map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and barred its use for the 2026 midterms, sending the state back to the 2021 map while appeals continue [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. How the map first changed after the 2020 census: population, seats and the 2021 plan
The 2020 decennial census gave Texas two additional congressional seats, increasing the state's delegation to 38 — a change reflected in the official 2021 congressional plan (S.B.6 / PLAN C2193) that took effect in January 2023 and set the baseline districts Texas used heading into the rest of the decade [1]. That 2021 remap produced the political landscape Republicans and Democrats would later contest in courts and at the Texas Capitol [1].
2. What Republicans attempted in 2025: a rare mid‑decade remap
In 2025 Texas Republicans initiated an unusual mid‑decade redistricting effort — urged publicly by President Donald Trump and pushed through a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott — with the explicit aim of creating as many as five additional GOP‑friendly House districts for the 2026 elections [6] [3]. Drafts and advocacy documents around the 2025 proposals described the goal as moving from the existing 25‑13 Republican advantage toward roughly 30 Republican‑leaning seats and 8 Democratic ones in some versions [2] [5].
3. The legal and civil‑rights backdrop: race, DOJ letters, and litigation
The 2025 push was framed by competing legal arguments over race and compliance with the Voting Rights Act. A July 2025 Department of Justice letter reportedly urged Texas to address racial compositions in four majority‑minority districts — an intervention that state officials cited when proceeding — and opponents argued that the legislature used race in impermissible ways to redraw lines [3] [7] [8]. That legal entanglement predicted swift federal court challenges once the 2025 map became law [3].
4. The court ruling that blocked the 2025 map and what it said
On Nov. 18, 2025 a three‑judge federal panel ruled 2–1 that the 2025 congressional map was probably an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and enjoined its use for the 2026 midterms, ordering the state to continue using the earlier 2021 plan while appeals proceed [3] [5] [8]. The panel’s opinion said there was “substantial evidence” of racial gerrymandering and that politics alone did not explain the map’s design, according to reporting and the majority opinion excerpted by multiple outlets [4] [9].
5. Competing narratives: proponents’ aims vs. critics’ charges
Supporters of the 2025 redistricting framed it as correcting race‑based concerns identified by the DOJ and producing more “compact” or “color‑blind” districts that reflected statewide political shifts [2] [7]. Critics — including civil‑rights organizations and the majority of the federal panel — said the plan was a partisan play cloaked in race‑based justifications, engineered to net up to five GOP pickups and dilute minority voting power [3] [8] [10].
6. National context and precedent: why this matters beyond Texas
Mid‑decade congressional remaps are rare in modern practice; analysts note only a handful of comparable voluntary midcycle partisan remaps since 1970 (Texas in 2003 being a prior example), making the 2025 episode part of a broader, high‑stakes national push to redraw maps between censuses [11]. The episode has prompted other states and advocacy groups to consider or resist similar tactics and invited scrutiny at the Supreme Court level in related Voting Rights Act litigation [11] [4].
7. Present state and what to watch next
As of the court ruling in November 2025, Texas is required to use its 2021 congressional map for upcoming federal elections while state officials appeal; Attorney General Ken Paxton and the state have signaled appeals are likely and some parties have sought emergency relief from higher courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court [3] [4]. Observers should watch appellate filings, any emergency stays from the Supreme Court, and whether additional litigation or legislative maneuvers change which map is ultimately used [3] [4].
Limitations and note on sources: reporting and legal documents cited here are from November 2025 coverage and public state sites; available sources do not mention any final Supreme Court disposition post‑Nov. 21, 2025 in this dataset [4] [3].