Republicans were on a partisan redistricting roll after the Supreme Court decision allowing them to redraw racially gerrymandered congressional districts.
That was until Wednesday, when four Southern states wavered on plans to radically redraw congressional maps in Republicans’ favor.
Democrats, meanwhile, are plotting “a decisive and forceful” gerrymandering push in seven blue states ahead of 2028 to help them gain more seats.
A cascade of red-state redistricting that followed the Supreme Court’s April 29 decision appeared to be losing steam.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signaled Wednesday that he would cancel a special legislative session that would have redrawn the state’s Supreme Court districts and possibly its racially gerrymandered congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections in November.
In South Carolina, the Republican-led state Senate blocked a resolution Tuesday that would have cleared the way for lawmakers to consider a new map that would have redrawn a congressional seat held by Rep. James Clyburn, a Black Democrat.
“Republicans are stronger when the Democrat Party is vibrant and viable,” state Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, a Republican, said in a floor speech arguing against redistricting Mr. Clyburn’s district out of existence.
Lawmakers in Louisiana and Alabama voted to redraw their congressional maps to eliminate racially gerrymandered districts, but each Republican-led legislature created only one additional Republican-leaning seat instead of two seats in each state, as some in the party had hoped.
In all, Republicans are poised to forgo carving out four additional seats that would likely favor Republican congressional candidates in November as the party battles to cling to its razor-thin majority in the U.S. House.
“The South [is] really dropping the ball,” elections analyst Ryan Girdusky posted on social media.
Republicans slowed their redistricting scramble as Democrats plotted a counterattack in 2027.
They announced aggressive plans to gerrymander additional congressional districts in their favor in at least seven states.
“The effort is not over. It’s just getting started,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat.
He pledged “a decisive and forceful response” to the recent Republican gerrymandering in the South, assuring reporters who questioned him about the Democrats’ extensive redistricting plans, “I’m telling you now — we will.”
The party’s aggressive partisan gerrymandering in prior decades has left Democrats with few avenues to carve away Republican-leaning districts, but they plan to squeeze out additional seats in New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Maryland and perhaps others, Mr. Jeffries said.
Democrats in several blue states are already making plans to target Republican seats.
New Jersey Senate President Nick Scutari said he is weighing an amendment on the November ballot that would allow the legislature to redraw congressional districts ahead of the 2028 elections. The 9-3 map heavily favors Democrats, but redistricting could push out one or more of the state’s three Republican House lawmakers.
“We are having active discussions, and I’m in favor of that,” Mr. Scutari told an audience at a congressional debate Tuesday, InsideNJ reported.
Republicans are on track to win the redistricting battle in 2026 thanks to aggressive gerrymandering in Texas, Florida and several other states.
California countered by approving five new Democratic-leaning congressional districts in a November 2025 special election. Utah added one seat for Democrats.
Republicans leapfrogged further ahead in the redistricting battle after the Virginia Supreme Court tossed out a voter-approved map that would have created four more Democratic-leaning districts.
Republicans want to gerrymander as many congressional districts as possible as they face daunting poll numbers that show the electorate is increasingly dissatisfied with President Trump’s handling of the economy and the Iran war.
The South Carolina Senate vote Tuesday blocking a redistricting session was a setback for Republicans and drew angry responses from party leaders.
“The SC Senate’s RINOs blocked the will of We The People and President Trump!” Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican who is running for governor, said on social media. “Let me be clear: NONE of them should be in public office after the next election and as governor, I’ll make sure of it!!”
On Wednesday, Gov. Henry McMaster, facing significant pressure from party leaders, signaled he would call a special session of the state legislature to consider the new congressional map. The move would reopen a pathway for Republicans to pick up an additional seat in the Palmetto State.
In Mississippi, Mr. Reeves appeared to back away from closing the door to redistricting in his state ahead of the midterm elections. He faced criticism for canceling the special session to redraw the state’s Supreme Court map, which would have given an opportunity to consider the congressional lines and eliminate the sole district held by a Democrat.
“Just to clarify, I said I expect lawmakers to redraw congressional lines BETWEEN NOW and 2027 elections!” he said on social media.
