Short answer
In August 2025, Texas redrew its U.S. House map mid-decade to raise Republican-leaning seats from 25 to 30 of 38 [4][6]. House Democrats left the state for two weeks to deny a quorum [2]. A federal panel blocked the map, but the U.S. Supreme Court stayed and then reversed that ruling, so the 2025 map governs the 2026 elections [5][6][7].
Why Texas redrew mid-decade
Redrawing congressional maps in the middle of a decade is rare but allowed [1]. In summer 2025, the governor directed lawmakers to redraw Texas's congressional map at the urging of the president's administration [1]. The plan would dismantle four districts that the U.S. Department of Justice said unconstitutionally combined Black and Hispanic voters, a charge the state disputes [1].
At the time, Republicans held 25 of Texas's 38 U.S. House seats, and the proposed map was designed to create five more Republican-leaning districts [1][4]. The Texas Tribune noted that winning all five was not guaranteed [1].
The quorum break
The Texas House needs 100 of its 150 members present to conduct business [2]. On Aug. 3, 2025, more than 50 House Democrats left Texas, most for the Chicago area and others for New York and Boston, to block a vote on the map [1]. House Republicans adopted $500-a-day fines for missed sessions, and the speaker signed civil warrants that apply only within Texas [1].
The walkout caused the first special session to end without a vote, and the governor called a second special session with nearly the same agenda [2]. On Aug. 18, 2025, enough Democrats returned to restore a quorum after two weeks away [2].
Passage of the map
The House approved the map, House Bill 4, on Aug. 20, 2025, by a party-line vote of 88 to 52 [3]. The Legislature gave final passage on Aug. 23, 2025, and the governor signed the map on Aug. 29, 2025 [4][8]. The Texas Tribune reported the map was designed to produce a 30-8 Republican split in the delegation [4]. Groups representing Black and Latino voters sued to block it [4].
The court fight
On Nov. 18, 2025, a three-judge federal panel in El Paso ruled 2-1 that the plaintiffs were likely to prove Texas had racially gerrymandered the 2025 map, and ordered the 2026 congressional election to proceed under the map enacted in 2021 [5][8]. One judge dissented [5].
On Nov. 21, 2025, a U.S. Supreme Court justice temporarily restored the 2025 map, and on Dec. 4, 2025, the Supreme Court stayed the panel's injunction pending appeal [5][6][8]. Justice Samuel Alito, writing in support of the order, described the state's motive as partisan advantage, which the Court has said is permissible, and rejected the racial gerrymandering argument; Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissent for the Court's three liberal justices [6]. On April 27, 2026, the Supreme Court summarily reversed the panel's preliminary injunction, with three justices dissenting [7][8].
Where the map stands for 2026
The 2025 map is in effect for the 2026 elections. Primaries were held under the new district lines on March 3, 2026, and the panel's order to return to the 2021 map no longer has effect after the April 2026 reversal [7]. The underlying litigation continues: as of the case record reviewed, the panel still had to decide claims about the 2021 maps and hold proceedings toward a trial on the 2025 map, and other claims, including under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, remain pending [7][8].
Common questions
- Which congressional map is Texas using in 2026?
- The map enacted in August 2025. The Supreme Court reversed the order that would have restored the 2021 map [7].
- How long did Texas House Democrats stay away?
- About two weeks, from Aug. 3 to Aug. 18, 2025 [1][2].
- How many seats was the map designed to change?
- Five, moving the Republican-leaning seats from 25 to 30 of Texas's 38 districts [4][6].
- Is the redistricting lawsuit over?
- No. The Supreme Court ruled on the preliminary injunction; trial proceedings and other claims remain pending [7][8].
Sources
- The Texas redistricting fight spurring a legislative standoff: What you need to know, The Texas Tribune, 2025-08-04
- Texas House Democrats return to Capitol, ending walkout over redistricting plan, The Texas Tribune, 2025-08-18
- Texas House approves GOP congressional map after two-week delay from Democrats' walkout, The Texas Tribune, 2025-08-20
- Gov. Greg Abbott signs new Texas GOP congressional map, The Texas Tribune, 2025-08-29
- Federal court blocks new Texas congressional map for 2026, The Texas Tribune, 2025-11-18
- Supreme Court orders Texas to use 2025 map amid legal battle, The Texas Tribune, 2025-12-04
- Supreme Court allows Texas' redrawn congressional map to stand for 2026 elections, CBS Austin, 2026-04-27
- LULAC v. Abbott (also Brooks v. Abbott, Guillen v. LULAC), All About Redistricting, Loyola Law School, 2026