Greg Abbott Signs Off on Map Projected to Give Texas 5 Additional GOP House Seats Next Year

Conservative News DailyAugust 29, 2025

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a new congressional district map into law that is expected to give Republicans teh prospect to gain up to five additional seats in Congress starting with the 2026 midterm elections.Abbott praised the new map on social media, claiming it ensures fairer portrayal and will make Texas delegation “more RED” in Congress. The Texas legislature passed this map after Democrats briefly fled the state to block redistricting but returned for a second special session.

Currently, Republicans hold 25 of Texas’s 38 congressional seats, and the new map could increase that number to 30.In response, California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom criticized Abbott, while California passed its own redistricting map aimed at increasing Democratic seats and reducing Republican representation from nine to potentially four.

The redistricting efforts in Texas and California highlight ongoing partisan battles over congressional maps across the U.S., where Democrats control certain states frequently enough criticized by republicans for gerrymandering, such as Illinois and New York. Voting rights groups have challenged the Texas map, alleging it diminishes the influence of Black voters, but Republican leaders assert the map creates more majority-minority districts and is not racially discriminatory. The legal fate of the Texas map will depend on whether it violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new congressional districting map into law on Friday, giving Republicans a chance to gain up to five additional seats.

Abbott posted on social media, “Today, I signed the One Big Beautiful Map into law. This map ensures fairer representation in Congress. Texas will be more RED in Congress.”

Today, I signed the One Big Beautiful Map into law.

This map ensures fairer representation in Congress.

Texas will be more RED in Congress. pic.twitter.com/aOT7QCoSF8

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 29, 2025

Last week, the Texas House and Texas Senate passed the map after Democrat lawmakers who had fled the state returned for a second special session called by Abbott.

Republicans currently hold 25 of the Lone Star State’s 38 congressional seats, which could become 30 of the 38 in the 2026 midterms.

🚨Breaking News: The Texas State House has officially approved the new State Congressional Map for 2026 which is expected to add up to 5 GOP seats in the U.S. House of Representatives pic.twitter.com/zFnj7Jvdf0

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) August 20, 2025

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to Abbott signing the law by posting on X, “Congratulations on your new position as Trump’s #1 lapdog, I know you worked hard for it!”

The Associated Press reported that Newsom signed a bill into law last week calling for a special election in November, allowing voters to approve a new congressional map that would net up to five more Democratic congressional seats in the Golden State.

If the new map is accepted, the Republicans’ representation in the congressional delegation could drop from nine to four of the 52 seats, or just under 8 percent of the total.

🚨Just Now: The new California congressional map for 2026 has officially been released

The Old Map
🔵 43 Democrat Seats
🔴 9 Republican Seats

The New Map
🔵 48 Democrat Seats
🔴 4 Republican Seats

If this map passes Republicans would lose up to 5 Congressional Seats in 2026 pic.twitter.com/3TxphkAmvH

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) August 16, 2025

President Donald Trump won 38 percent of the vote in California during November’s presidential election.

He carried 56 percent of the vote in Texas to Democrat Kamala Harris’ approximately 43 percent.

Democrats have several heavily gerrymandered states such as Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York.

Anytime you hear a Democrat complain about “gerrymandering,” I want you to think of this chart.

9 blue states with 32%-48% Republican voters: ZERO representation in The House.

California, Illinois, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Oregon have 34%-46% GOP voting. Look at those… pic.twitter.com/4G6j3PJVFP

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 12, 2025

In the Land of Lincoln, Trump won 44 percent of the popular vote, but Republicans only carried three congressional races of the state’s 17 districts.

And New York Democrats pushed through a new congressional map after Republicans picked up several seats in the 2022 midterm elections, according to the New York Post.

The Republican delegation in the last Congress was 11, but in the current one, it dropped to seven of the 26 seats, despite Trump winning 44 percent of the vote.

The mid-decade redistricting in New York is one of the reasons the GOP won such a narrow 220 to 215 majority in the House last November, despite Trump’s convincing national victory, including all seven swing states.

Texas’s redistricting is clearly in response to what Democrats have already done.

The Associated Press reported, “Voting rights groups filed a lawsuit this week ahead of Abbott’s signing the bill, saying the new map weakens the electoral influence of Black voters.”

The outlet noted that the only way opponents can stop the Texas map is to prove it violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which forbids districting in a way designed to separate minority communities.

But, the outlet said, “Republican leaders have denied the map is racially discriminatory and contend the new map creates more new majority-minority seats than the previous one.”