AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) -- Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’ new congressional map into law Friday, celebrating in a social media video that the state is “now more red in the United States Congress.”

Abbott’s signature concludes the legislative portion of this unusual mid-decade redistricting effort, which started earlier this summer when President Donald Trump began pushing state lawmakers to redraw Texas’ map to shore up the narrow GOP majority in the U.S. House ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The battle now will go to the courts, where groups representing Black and Latino voters have already filed lawsuits asking that the maps be blocked from going into effect. A three-judge panel that is already considering challenges to Texas’ 2021 maps has set a hearing for early October. The filing deadli

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