Los Angeles, US (EFE).- Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed the redistricting bill on Friday, which is favourable to his party, advancing United States President Donald Trump’s plan to maintain a majority in the US House of Representatives in the midterm elections.
“This map ensures fairer representation in Congress. Texas will be more RED in Congress,” Abbott posted on X, calling the new electoral map “big” and “beautiful.”
The law will secure five congressional districts for the Republican Party and will affect several districts currently represented by Democrats, particularly those with Latino and African-American majorities.
The battle for these districts has only just begun, as the new redistricting has already been challenged in court.
Abbott will have to face the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), the largest and most influential civil rights organization in the US, which filed a lawsuit this week alleging that the new electoral map deprives Black voters of their political power.
Jointly with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the lawsuit alleges that Texas has engaged in the racial manipulation of electoral districts to prevent Black voters from electing their preferred candidates.
LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens), the oldest Hispanic organization in the US, has filed a motion to supplement a legal complaint originally filed in 2021. This complaint challenges the state’s original maps and argues that redefining districts mid-decade is unconstitutional.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) has also joined the legal disputes, which promise to prevent the state from implementing the new districts.
Republicans in states such as Utah are poised to follow Texas’s lead as part of Trump’s plan, prompting Democratic states to advance their congressional maps, which are typically redrawn every 10 years based on census figures.
California has entered the fray between the two main political parties in the US. Governor Gavin Newsom has signed several bills calling for elections in November, which will see voters approve a new congressional map.
This map is expected to help the Democratic Party gain an additional five seats in the House of Representatives in 2026, thereby counteracting Republican efforts to maintain their majority.
“Congratulations on your new position as Trump’s #1 lapdog, I know you worked hard for it!” Newsom wrote on X on Friday regarding Abbott and the signing of the law.
California, a predominantly Democratic state with the largest number of congressional districts in the country (52), is the blue party’s best chance to counteract Republican redrawing. EFE
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