Trump's Redistricting Scheme in Texas Just Got Shot Down

The Rolling Stones once sang, "You can't always get what you want," which Trump has learned recently in his attempt at rigging the 2026 midterms.

After directing MAGA Texans to redistrict - despite not being time to - Trump thought his illegal masterstroke to get five more seats in the House was going to bear fruit. Like good lackey's Texas Republicans had hurried to gerrymander and pass a redistricting plot favorable to them.

Then the fruit of Trump's effort withered away Tuesday when a federal court ordered Texas to throw out its redrawn Republican-friendly congressional maps for the 2026 election after finding out it constituted an illegal racial gerrymander.

This unexpected turn of events was a significant setback after pushing through an unusual redistricting of Texas' congressional seats to insulate their slim House majority ahead of next year's midterms.

I find it interesting that a Trump-appointed judge focused on how the new map would affect the racial makeup of Texas' congressional districts. It always warms my heart to see justice delivered during this time of Trump assaulting our judiciary system.

What U.S. Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote in his decision was a damning indictment of the whole scheme, "The public perception of this case is that it's about politics," he said. "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," he concluded.

Prior to this ruling, on November 13th, the justice department sued Governor Gavin Newsom for California's (so-called) race based redistricting plan. The Department's motion to intervene in Tangipa et al v Newsom is pending before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The first court date is set for Dec. 3.

The voter approved measure, Prop 50, was a way to offset Texas' plans to send five more Republicans to Congress. The measure currently stands even after the ruling in Texas.

The good news, according to one political expert, is that Prop 50 is unlikely to be impacted after judges block Texas from using its new House map.

"Most of the law around redistricting is up to the state, not the federal government, not federal law, and we just changed state law," Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School, said in an interview with ABC7, "I don't think there are many grounds for a legal challenge against Prop 50 to succeed," he explained.

Time will tell. Meanwhile the whole redistricting plan that Trump talked Texas into doing has failed, and in fact, has benefited Democrats who will be sending five more representatives to Congress in 2026.

As it Stands, as a Texan would say, "Trump shot himself in the foot."