Texas Republicans are pushing forward with new congressional voting maps that President Trump wants in place in the 2026 midterm elections.

Trump and Republicans are trying to hold on to a slim majority that they hold in the U.S. Congress, and these Texas maps would give Republicans five more winnable seats.

They also set off a wave of protests in Texas and in other states from Democrats who are trying to rally support and in some cases create counterpunches to what Texas Republicans have managed to do so far.

Texas Democrats, for example, left the state for two weeks in an effort to slow down the vote before they ultimately had to come back to the state and face a Republican majority that really was going to be able to push the maps over them anyway.

In California, lawmakers there have advanced to voters in November a plan to create five new Democratic-leaning districts as a countermeasure to what Texas Republicans are trying to do here.

Other states may also follow Texas and California's lead in this gerrymandering tug of war that is rippling across the country at the behest of Trump.

Democrats say the new Texas maps harm minority voters by dismantling their districts. Republicans say the maps are legal and create several new Hispanic majority voting districts. Republicans also say their goal is simply partisan. They want more Republicans, and their maps will get them.”