Democratic Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas ripped into fellow party Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner over redistricting in the commonwealth, declaring Saturday she didn’t need advice from “a cuck chair in the corner.”
With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, redistricting plans have surfaced in both Republican-led and Democrat-led state legislatures as a strategy to achieve a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Virginia Senate Democrats on Friday approved a state constitutional amendment allowing the General Assembly to redraw the state’s congressional districts mid-decade. Touting the win online, Lucas first posted a picture of a McDonald’s worker asking, “Would you like fries with that?” on the news of the approved amendment.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is raising alarms over President Donald Trump’s aggressive push for mid-decade redistricting in Republican-led states, claiming the effort could intensify national divisions and even lead to “political violence.”
Paul’s comments came during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The senator was pressed on the Indiana State Senate’s recent decision to reject a Trump-backed redistricting proposal.
The president endorsed the mid-cycle map overhaul.
It’s one that analysts say would have added two GOP seats ahead of next year’s midterms.
The Indiana House of Representatives passed a controversial bill that would redistrict the state and possibly flip two seats to the Republican column in the midterm elections.
Fifty-seven members voted for the bill, while 41 voted against it. The bill will go to the Indiana Senate, where some Republicans have said they oppose the redistricting effort.
‘Fair maps are essential to protecting Hoosiers’ voices in Washington, and today the House voted to do just that.’
Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun urged the Senate to pass the bill.
“Fair maps are essential to protecting Hoosiers’ voices in Washington, and today the House voted to do just that, delivering a strong congressional map,” Braun said. “I commend Speaker Huston and his caucus for having the courage to protect Hoosier voters. I urge the Senate to move quickly next week and adopt this map so Indiana can move forward with confidence.”
CNN political commentator Scott Jennings had a stern warning for Republican lawmakers after the Republican-dominated Indiana State Senate overwhelmingly voted against a congressional map redraw that would have netted the party two seats in next year’s midterm elections, a move that significantly increases the odds of a Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in 2026.
The proposed maps would have split the Democratic Party stronghold of Indianapolis four ways, effectively eliminating the districts currently controlled by Democrats to give the GOP a 9-0 sweep when it comes to U.S. House seats. After the Indiana House advanced the motion last week, the proposed map went to the Senate, where it was soundly defeated on Thursday.
The vote was not particularly close, as 21 Republicans voted against the measure while just 19 voted in favor. President Donald Trump and a number of key allies were furious over the move, leading organizations like Turning Point USA and the president himself to vow primary challenges.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito blocked a federal court ruling Friday that struck down Texas’ new congressional map, allowing Republicans to continue using the disputed boundaries while the high court weighs the case.
Alito ordered the League of United Latin American Citizens and other challengers to respond by Monday at 5 p.m. EST, according to the court document. The administrative stay blocks the Nov. 18 order from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas while the Supreme Court considers the case.
The Supreme Court order states the district court’s ruling “is hereby administratively stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court.” Alito signed the order personally on Nov. 21.
“By design or by default, Judge [Dianna] Gibson has authorized the most partisan and thus the most gerrymandered map,” Senate leader Stuart Adams said.
The Utah state legislature is set to appeal the state’s new congressional map that carves out a congressional seat that will all but certainly give a seat to the Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections. The map was brought about after Judge Dianna Gibson ruled in favor of the map that was in place.
The announcement was made on Tuesday. “By design or by default, Judge [Dianna] Gibson has authorized the most partisan and thus the most gerrymandered map in the history of the state of Utah,” Senate President Stuart Adams announced at a press conference.
But Newsom, born without the encumbrance of integrity, insists on lecturing Republicans about election integrity.
“Donald Trump and Greg Abbott played with fire, got burned — and democracy won,” the leftist California governor stricken with political delusions of grandeur gloated on X this week after a federal court panel in a 2-1 ruling blocked Texas from implementing a mid-decade revision to its U.S. House map. Republicans have appealed the decision, which the dissenting judge excoriated as “the most blatant exercise of judicial activism” he has witnessed in his 37 years on the federal bench.
Donald Trump and Greg Abbott played with fire, got burned — and democracy won.
This ruling is a win for Texas, and for every American who fights for free and fair elections. https://t.co/gyXPoVFMmC
“California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process.”
The US Department of Justice has filed suit against California Governor Gavin Newsom and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, alleging that the state’s newly enacted congressional map violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The legal challenge targets the redistricting framework created under Proposition 50, which shifted responsibility for drawing congressional districts from an independent commission to the state legislature. The new map favors Democrats in the upcoming 2026 midterms.
Amid the several race-based redistricting fights across the country ahead of the midterms, including states like Texas and California, one Southern state joined the ranks Monday in a move that has left nobody satisfied.
A federal judge ordered a small redistricting effort after finding back in August that the current Alabama state Senate district map violated the Voting Rights Act.
The new plan does enough to remedy the disparities while not upsetting other districts.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, a first-term Trump appointee, ordered that a new map that rearranged District 25 and District 26, two Montgomery-area districts, be implemented in time for the 2026 midterms.
Democrat state Senator Kirk Hatcher currently represents Senate District 26, and Republican state Senator Will Barfoot represents Senate District 25.
The proposition granting the Democrat-controlled legislature authority to redraw California’s congressional districts won by a decisive margin, but the Trump administration is suing to stop the gerrymandering scheme.
On Thursday the Department of Justice filed to join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law that would allow Democrats to possibly flip five Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
‘Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop. 50.’
President Donald Trump weighed in on a pair of Indiana Republicans involved in thwarting redistricting efforts in the Hoosier State ahead of next year’s midterm elections. As you might have guessed, he wasn’t pleased with their actions.
As reported by RedState’s Teri Christoph, Indiana’s Republican Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray announced earlier this week that the chamber, controlled by the GOP, would not reconvene in December to vote on redistricting.
Bray, along with state Sen. Greg Goode (R), was the target of the President’s ire as he railed against their “politically correct” cowardice for developing an acute case of weak knees at the thought of redistricting.
“Very disappointed in Indiana State Senate Republicans, led by RINO Senators Rod Bray and Greg Goode, for not wanting to redistrict their State, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform.
A panel of three unelected judges issued an injunction Tuesday blocking Texas from using its newly drawn congressional map. If Texas loses the appeals process, the injunction could stand, which means the five seats Texas thought it was gaining will not materialize. But five seats that could materialize will be in California. Which means that Republicans in red states must step up or risk losing the House to Democrats permanently.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown ruled alongside Judge Davi Guaderrama in a 2-1 decision that the new map appears to be a race-based gerrymander, which is illegal.
“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics,” the majority opinion reads. “To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”
Now that the “Schumer Shutdown” has become the “Schumer Surrender,” the Democrats are distracted, disorganized, and organizationally discombobulated. For the next few weeks, they’ll be preoccupied with finger-pointing and nasty recriminations — with the radical left blaming the middle-left, the middle-left blaming the radical left, and every other donkey ducking for cover.
So the timing is perfect: Trump should strike while the metal is smoldering.
And for his next PR move, he should demand a constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering once and for all.
Gerrymandering isn’t a new thing. It’s named after Elbridge Gerry, the fifth vice president of the United States. Before joining James Madison’s 1812 ticket, he was the governor of Massachusetts, where he approved oddly-shaped legislative districts, one of which resembled a salamander.
An unelected district court judge ruled late Monday night that a Republican-proposed congressional map in Utah — a state that voted for President Donald Trump by nearly 22 points last November — was unconstitutional and instead, the state would have to adopt a map that creates a solid Democrat seat. The decision marks the latest setback in a string of redistricting battles that Republicans appear increasingly unwilling to fight, even as Democrats move full steam ahead with their own partisan redistricting efforts.
Utah District Judge Dianna Gibson ruled that the GOP proposal “unduly favors Republicans and disfavors Democrats.” The state legislature was ordered to draw a new map after the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government sued over the current maps. Gibson previously ordered the state to draw a new map. The legislature approved a new map that retained the four congressional districts, though it made two of the districts slightly more competitive. But Gibson struck the new map down, instead accepting the plaintiff-drawn map that creates a new, safely Democratic district. Cook Political Report Senior Editor and Elections Analyst Dave Wasserman said the new district is a +24 for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Utah Third District Court has struck down the congressional map crafted by the Republican-led state legislature, labeling it an unconstitutional “gerrymander” and replacing it with a map drawn by left-wing plaintiffs.
The new map, which the court claims better complies with the state’s anti-gerrymandering initiative, is projected to give Democrats an additional seat in one of the nation’s deeply red states.
At the heart of the controversy is the court’s decision to affirm a lower court injunction blocking the legislature’s maps (S.B. 1011 and S.B. 1012, known as Map C), claiming they violated Proposition 4 — a 2018 initiative designed to curb partisan gerrymandering.
The Court, led by Judge Dianna M. Gibson, has thrown out the legislature’s S.B. 1012 (Map C) and S.B. 1011, both approved earlier this year by the state’s duly elected representatives.
And instead adopts “Map 1,” drawn by the plaintiffs themselves, after declaring that the legislature’s map “unduly favored Republicans.”
California overwhelmingly approved Prop 50 on Tuesday, which will potentially add five Democrat seats to the U.S. House in opposition to Republicans in Texas.
The Associated Press called the election in favor of Prop 50 shortly after the polls closed on Tuesday night.
“California voters approved new congressional district boundaries Tuesday, delivering a victory for Democrats in the state-by-state redistricting battle that will help determine which party wins control of the U.S. House in 2026,” the AP noted.
Republicans hold 219 seats in the U.S. House, while Democrats hold 213; those five seats in the 2026 midterm could make a huge difference in the balance of power. California Gov. Gavin Newsom strongly backed Prop 50, pledging it would be a bulwark against President Trump.
President Trump on Tuesday called California’s Proposition 50 a “giant scam” and revealed that the Golden State’s mail-in ballots are under “serious legal and criminal review.”
Governor Gavin Newsom and the Democrat-controlled state Legislature placed the Prop 50 constitutional amendment on California’s 2025 special election ballot in August.
It authorizes a temporary override of California’s independent redistricting process for congressional districts, allowing the Democrat-controlled Legislature to gerrymander new maps starting with the 2026 midterm elections.
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review,” he added. “STAY TUNED.”
Breaking news: California voters approved a congressional map that could give Democrats up to five more House seats, countering Texas’s GOP-favored redistricting in a nationwide battle over district lines. https://t.co/WeBtZTCxyGpic.twitter.com/RHK53QbiMn
Looks like Republicans have folded their tent in their effort to defeat a Democratic gerrymander of California’s House districts one week before the special election. Good news for Democrats, and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s been leading the fight for California redistricting. Via Politico:
As Democrats pummel the state with Yes on 50 advertising, the Republican side of the battle has gone quiet. Major GOP donors and party leaders have effectively vanished from the front lines.
The biggest funder of the campaign to defeat Proposition 50, Charles Munger Jr., has not contributed any significant cash to the cause in weeks, and his Protect Voters First committee cut its weekly spending from more than $4 million to less than $300. The other opposition committee, Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab, spent $155,000 on advertising last week, compared to $3.8 million from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Yes on 50 campaign.
“It’s as full-throated a campaign for Democrats in California as if we were in the middle of a presidential election,” said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party. “But you can go to the house next door, occupied by Republicans, and it’s crickets — other than receiving their ballot in the mail.”
On Monday, Gov. Mike Braun called for a special session to redistrict Indiana’s nine congressional seats, two of which are held by Democrats in the Republican-supermajority state. His call is part of a nationwide effort to rebalance Congress after decades of heavily partisan redistricting everywhere Democrats hold state majorities, as well as congressional apportionment increasingly distorted by Democrat-encouraged mass illegal immigration.
“I am calling a special legislative session to protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair,” Braun said in a statement. “I am also asking the legislature to conform Indiana’s tax code with new federal tax provisions to ensure stability and certainty for taxpayers and tax preparers for 2026 filings.”
Former President Barack Obama speaks during a live stream in support of California’s Proposition 50, October 22, 2025.YouTube/California Office of the Governor
On Wednesday, former President Barack Obama joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a livestream for volunteers in support of Proposition 50, the governor’s redistricting measure, and the sole question on the ballot in the November 4 special election.
Allies of President Donald Trump are pressuring Indiana state lawmakers to vote on a redistricting proposal after a key state leader predicted the measure would fail.
A spokesperson for Rodric Bray, the Indiana Senate’s president pro tempore, told Politico Wednesday morning that “the votes aren’t there for redistricting,” prompting a number of heavyweight Trumpworld figures to hint at political consequences for Indiana Republicans if they don’t redraw the state’s map for the 2026 elections.
Voting security is always a hot topic around election time, but manipulation of our electoral system is a bigger problem that we have to worry about all the time.
On the most recent episode of The Drill Down podcast, we are not talking about stolen ballots, “ballot harvesting,” or other shenanigans that can happen during an election, but about how congressional districts are both drawn and apportioned. Two things recently in the news raise questions about how we do those things, and whether it’s still the best way.
As host Peter Schweizer asks, “What if an election can be rigged before the first ballot is even cast?”
Duke math professor Jonathan Mattingly conducted an analysis to discover if a new Trump-supported congressional map in North Carolina would result in the Republican Party locking in additional seats. The answer, he uncovered, is a resounding yes.
Three days before publishing his results on Sunday, the GOP revealed another mid-decade congressional map proposal that would bolster the party’s grip in Congress. It does so by expanding the boundaries of the state’s 1st Congressional District, which is currently held by Democrat Don Davis, pulling in some of the 3rd Congressional District, which is represented by Republican Greg Murphy.
Former President Barack Obama and California Governor Gavin Newsom are urging Californians to vote in favor of Proposition 50, a ballot measure that would replace the state’s independent redistricting system with a legislature-approved map projected to eliminate several Republican-held congressional districts.
On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom posted on X, “Listen to @barackobama,” sharing a new video featuring former President Barack Obama encouraging voters to support Proposition 50 in the state’s November 4 special election.
In the video, Obama says:
“California, the whole nation is counting on you. Democracy is on the ballot November 4. Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years. With Prop 50, you can stop Republicans in their tracks. Prop 50 puts our elections back on a level playing field, which preserves Independent Redistricting over the long term, and lets the people decide. Return your ballot today. Vote yes on 50.”
The ad marks Obama’s latest effort to promote Gov. Newsom’s redistricting plan, which would replace California’s independent redistricting commission — created by voters in 2008 — with a partisan-drawn map. According to previous Breitbart News reports, the proposal would reduce Republican-held seats in California’s congressional delegation from nine to five, even though roughly 40 percent of voters supported Republican candidates in the 2024 election.
Obama has described Newsom’s proposal as a “reasoned and measured approach,” writing on X in August, “Over the long term, we shouldn’t have political gerrymandering in America, just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who’s got better ideas. But since Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House and gerrymandering in the middle of a decade to try and maintain the House despite their unpopular policies, I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this. He’s put forward a smart, measured approach in California, designed to address a very particular problem at a very particular moment in time.”
At a fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard, Obama praised the initiative further, saying, “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”
California Republicans have sued to stop Newsom’s plan, calling it unconstitutional and arguing it violates the 30-day public notice requirement for legislation. The California Supreme Court, however, ruled in August that the plan could proceed, allowing the governor to use a “gut and amend” tactic to fast-track the measure through the legislature.
The special election — estimated to cost $250 million — will ask voters to approve the new map and amend the state constitution to permit mid-decade redistricting. The Democratic National Committee has launched bilingual outreach campaigns in support of Prop 50 focusing on Latino voters, while major donors including billionaire Tom Steyer have funded multimillion-dollar ad campaigns promoting the initiative.
Polls indicate that a majority of Californians still favor retaining the state’s independent redistricting commission. A UC Berkeley–Politico survey found that 64 percent of voters prefer the current system, compared to 36 percent who support the governor’s proposed changes.
California’s redistricting fight is part of a broader national battle following Texas’s new “One Big Beautiful Map” which adds five Republican-leaning districts. Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder, through the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, have pledged to counter GOP-led redistricting efforts, characterizing them as “an existential threat to our democracy.”
