Why California and Texas are at the center of a redistribution battle

Legislators in California and Texas – the two most populous American states that contain more than 70 million Americans together – are at the center of an intense political battle that attracts other governments of the States and is about to have a major impact on the balance of powers in Washington DC.

After Texas adopted a redistribution measure which would create five other seats in the congress favoring the Republicans, California legislators retaliated by voting to redirect state maps – carefully made to cancel the move of Texas.

The Missouri then participated in the action, the governor commanding a special session to start on Wednesday so that the legislators can work to redraw a new card designed to add an additional republican seat.

This race for political arms for power may seem both bizarre and confusing – but it is one that quickly spreads to other states before the national mid -term elections next year.

Here is what you need to know about the American fight on the redistribution of the congress.

The battle began in Texas this summer, when the Republican -Majjeurité legislative assembly took the unusual measure to listen to the seats of the Congress in the middle of the decade – in a deliberate effort to send more Republicans to the House of Representatives of Washington.

The objective of the Star State of the Lone was to add five additional seats to the Congress, which would promote the Republicans. California responded by reducing its own districts to stimulate the democratic representation of five seats, in order to cancel the move by Texas.

The Missouri is the third state to join the fight, which comes after President Donald Trump called for loyal states across the country to cut their districts in order to maintain republican control of the congress after the November elections.

The House of Representatives of the United States is made up of 435 legislators elected every two years.

They represent districts with determined boundaries in the processes set by their governments of the States. Some states have independent non -partisan commissions that determine the districts, while others leave state legislature.

Who traces the lines and how can help shape the ideological inclination of the district and the probability that it elects a democrat or a republican.

Currently, the house rests on the edge of a knife, the Democrats only have to grasp three other seats to return the room in their balance.

The president’s party historically loses seats in the mid-term elections after their victory.

If the Democrats enter the Chamber, they can launch radical investigations into presidential actions, as the Democrats did in the second half of Trump’s first mandate and the Republicans have done so in the last two years of Joe Biden.

Each member of the American chamber represents a district in his country of origin. The districts are generally fixed after the American census is carried out each decade to take into account changes in the population of states.

But the Republicans and Democrats are now fighting to redraw the cards in mid-December, either to help or block the Trump agenda. By changing the makeup of the districts, each part hopes to capture more seats in the house.

Trump called on the state-controlled states-to-re-controlled state houses to warm their districts to try to prevent his party from losing control of the room during the mid-term elections in November.

But the effort in Texas struck a roadblock in early August after the State Democrats fled the state in order to deny the quorum necessary to adopt the republican redistribution measure.

They returned after two weeks, when the governor ordered them to be arrested. After their return, the room voted 88-52 to create five new seats.

The measurement was quickly approved by the Senate, then signed by Governor Greg Abbott.

Democrats and civil rights groups have declared that the new Texas cards will dilute the voting power of the minorities, in violation of the federal law on voting rights and have threatened to continue.

Gerrymandering – The restart of electoral borders to promote a political party – is practiced by the two main parties and is legal, unless it is deemed racial.

However, it is extremely unusual for the president to publicly support the efforts of a state to create a partisan advantage. Although the democratic and dominated states dominated by the Republicans have faced criticism and judicial battles on their cards in the American chamber, legislators rarely recognize that legislators recognize so explicitly the partisan intention behind their actions.

Critics argue that the process allows politicians to choose their voters, rather than voters who choose their elected officials.

This can lead to very bank cards, in which certain groups are grouped, whatever their geographic proximity.

In 2019, the Supreme Court took the power of the courts to block political gerrymandering.

“Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two main political parties,” wrote John Roberts in his decision at the time.

Rediscovery could have important implications in the middle of 2026 and has become an urgent question for state legislators.

Illinois, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Maryland are among the States led by Democrats ready to launch countermeasures in terms of Texas.

Indiana, Florida and Ohio are also planning to repeat in order to stimulate republican representation in Washington.

The Missouri will hold a special session that looks at September 3 to redesign the cards, which target a district of the Kansas City region owned by a Democratic representative.

The governor of Missouri, Mike Kehoe, said that the new card “will guarantee that our districts and our constitution really put the values ​​of Missouri first”.

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, whose state is leading the Democratic burden, is committed to “fighting fire” by reproducing by trying to increase the chances of victory by his party.

But the process in California is slow, due to a 2008 law designed to make the process less partisan.

On August 21, California Statehouse voted for the new cards to be on the special election ballot in November, to allow voters to decide if they were to change.

Voting can be controversial, as voters had previously approved a process that leaves it to a non -partisan commission to decide how the voting lines must be traced.

Utah, with four districts all held by the Republicans, was sentenced by a judge to redraw his cards before the middle.

The UTAH judge ruled that the legislators had ignored a rule adopted by voters who prohibited politicians “to promote or disadvantage outgoing elected officials or to consider partisan political information” when they draw their cards.

This decision should end up promoting Democrats to Salt Lake City, the Capitol of the hive state.

New York wants to enter the fray, but the process takes even more time, because the constitution of the state should be modified.

“In New York, we are going to face Trump’s legal insurrection from the front,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

“We will meet him on the same field and fight it to his own game.”

According to experts, states where Republicans control most of the government may be easier to restart their cards.

States controlled by Democrats have more legal and constitutional obstacles designed to protect against political gerrymandering.

Several small states, including Delaware and Vermont, obtain only one seat in the house, which makes them largely out of words for the current fight.

But with so much play, even these small states can finally embark on action.