Democrats get aggressive on remapping congressional lines

As the GOP gets ready for next year’s midterms, Democrats are fighting back against the party’s aggressive gerrymandering across the country.

After months of talking and doing nothing about how to stop President Donald Trump’s push to redraw congressional borders around the country, things have become worse for Democrats in Virginia, New York, and Illinois. According to a POLITICO estimate, he’s looking at up to 19 more GOP seats as his party tries to keep its small House majority. The fresh Democratic response in the last few days is the most aggressive move the minority party has made outside of California, where voters will decide next week whether to make a new congressional map that would give the state five blue seats. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader, stopped in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, on Monday with state and federal legislative leaders. This was part of his latest effort to get local lawmakers to redraw their boundaries. Democrats could win up one seat in the Prairie State.

On Monday, Virginia lawmakers started changing the state’s constitution so that new lines may be drawn before the 2026 midterms. And in New York, a well-known Democratic election lawyer’s company filed a lawsuit on Monday saying that a Republican-held congressional district is not constitutional. This might lead to another possible redraw.

It all adds up to a fresh tone for a party that is trying to win after losing badly last year.

Jeffries told reporters after Monday’s high-stakes meeting in Chicago with Black leaders that “this is unprecedented stuff to undermine the ability of the American people to participate in the free and fair election.” He said that Democrats need to respond quickly and strongly on behalf of the American people.

He argued that it is important to fight back against Trump’s efforts in Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri. The White House is also putting pressure on the Republican-led states of Indiana and Kansas to change their congressional patterns. Indiana Governor Mike Braun called a special session on Monday to talk about changing the state’s congressional districts. The GOP’s plan could leave Democrats at a big disadvantage, and party leaders are feeling the need to act.

Virginia Democrats might take away three of the state’s 11 congressional seats from Republicans.

Democrats are working against a tight timetable to present voters with a new map. The state constitution says that a new amendment to make the lines must be passed by two sessions of the state legislature, with an election happening between the two votes. That means there will be a statewide vote, but it can’t happen until at least 90 days after the amendment passes, which is just two months before the state’s primary next year.

The Virginia General Assembly’s actions have made the last days of the state’s off-year election, which includes the high-profile race for governor, a lot more complicated. Everyone in the House of Delegates is on the ballot, but they are being pulled off the campaign trail the week before the election to go to Richmond and vote on the amendment.

Virginia Republicans have criticized their opponents’ surprise campaign as going against what voters want.

Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, said in a press conference before the special session, “Democrats in our General Assembly are calling this special session not to serve the people but to serve themselves.” Earle-Sears is the presiding officer of the state Senate as lieutenant governor.

A group of New York residents is suing the state, saying that its congressional map unjustly weakens the votes of Black and Latino voters. Republican Nicole Malliotakis is the representative for the district in question, which includes Staten Island and sections of Brooklyn. Since the start of the last redistricting cycle, Democratic mapmakers have been focusing on her. Elias Law Group filed the lawsuit, which seeks a judge to cut off the moderate part of Brooklyn from the district and replace it with deep blue parts of Lower Manhattan.

If Democrats win in court and want to make changes before 2026, they will have to move quickly. Jeff Wice from New York Law School noted that the trial court has two months to make a ruling. “Then it would go through the appellate division challenge and then the Court of Appeals.” He went on to say, “The clock is ticking on this case.” Ed Cox, the chair of the New York GOP, said in a statement that the lawsuit “is seeking a blatant racial gerrymander.” He also stated that the current district “is compact, respected communities of interest, and has been approved by both the courts and the State Legislature.”

Jeffries went to Illinois at the same time as the autumn session of the state General Assembly, which could talk about the matter in the next few days. Some Black leaders in the state are against those attempts because they are worried that a new plan would weaken their power across congressional districts.

Willie Preston, the head of the Senate Black Caucus, stated he would vote against any map that takes away Black political power. He remarked, “We know what’s at stake, but I can’t support a map that will make Black representation weaker.”

And Democrats might have another state to add to their plans in Colorado.

Phil Weiser, the Colorado Attorney General who is running for governor, wants Democrats to put forward a “break glass in case of emergency” ballot initiative in 2026. This would give the state Legislature the power to redraw its congressional map for 2028 and then give the Colorado’s independent redistricting commission back control. Weiser said that there is a lot of sympathy for going around the commission as more Republican states redistrict, even if Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who is limited to one term, has indicated no interest in doing so.

“I’m still open and even a little hopeful that other states will see the writing on the wall and we won’t have to go down this road,” he said. “But if that’s not the case, we can’t ignore the truth. We need to be ready to do our share.

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