Texas’ top Republicans and Democrats were swift to issue praise and condemnation after Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the state to use its controversial new congressional map in the 2026 midterm elections.
The map was passed this summer by Texas lawmakers and designed to give Republicans as many as five new seats in the U.S. House. But last month, a panel of three federal judges in El Paso found the map to be racially gerrymandered, a decision the state of Texas quickly appealed to the Supreme Court.
“We won,” said Gov. Greg Abbott in a press release celebrating the ruling. “Texas is officially—and legally—more red.”
In July, Abbott instructed the Texas Legislature to undertake the unconventional step of redrawing district lines mid-decade at the behest of President Trump.
“The new congressional districts better align our representation in Washington D.C. with the values of our state. This is a victory for Texas voters, for common sense, and for the U.S. Constitution,” Abbott said.
The decision — made by Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency appeals from Texas — marks an end to what had been a months-long redistricting battle in the state, including protests and a high-profile quorum break by Texas House Democrats.
“The Supreme Court failed Texas voters today, and they failed American democracy,” state Rep. Gene Wu of Houston, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement.
Democrats in Texas have vowed to not give up and continue fighting. Rep. Ramon Romero (D-Fort Worth) said the “case is far from over.”
“We will continue this fight in the courts, in the Capitol, and in every community we represent,” said Romero.
Meanwhile, Abraham George, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, celebrated the ruling by sharing a GIF of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with the words “SMELLS LIKE WINNING!!” on social media.
The decision allowing Texas to use its new map in 2026 potentially has national implications: Texas was the first of several states to redraw its congressional maps earlier than usual — either at Trump’s request or in reaction to Trump’s and Texas’ actions.
“The signal that gets sent with this case is going to reverberate in the legal challenges to California [and] future legal challenges to other mid-decade redistricting maps that are being filed across the country,” said Travis Crum, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
The map being upheld is a positive for Republicans who see it as a pathway to increasing their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. But it also could signal that the Supreme Court would ultimately uphold California’s redistricting map, which was drawn to give Democrats an advantage and cancel out Texas’ actions.
Thursday’s decision was expected after Justice Alito made a preliminary ruling late last month siding with Texas. In it, he cited the “rapidly approaching” candidate filing deadline of Dec. 8 as a reason to not revert back to Texas’ 2021 congressional map, as the federal court in El Paso had suggested.
Alito also said using the 2021 map would cause problems for election officials — something several from across the state echoed in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court last month.
“When an election is close at hand, the rules of the road must be clear and settled,” the election officials said.
Josh Blackman, a professor of constitutional law at South Texas College of Law Houston, said the Supreme Court’s decision is essentially a green light for candidates who have already filed to run under the 2025 maps to move forward with their campaigns.
“Candidates are accepting their signatures. People have already put up signs and yards, and they’ve put on radio commercials. We just proceed for the March [primary] election,” Blackman said.
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