A federal district court’s ruling this week on a Texas redistricting scheme was bad news for Republicans, and a few Democratic politicians were happy to let them know it. In August, at President Donald Trump’s behest, Republican officials in Texas enacted a new congressional district map ahead of the 2026 midterms to create five new House seats favoring their party. However, a panel of federal judges ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that redrawing the congressional districts would harm Black and Hispanic Texans. California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed for a ballot initiative to allow California’s state legislature to enact its own redistricting scheme favoring Democrats, and California voters approved it on Nov. 4. Newsom crowed after the Texas court ruling came out, “Donald Trump and Greg Abbott played with fire, got burned ― and democracy won.” Other Democrats piled on at the news, with Rep. Jasmine Crockett predicting that “Old Don bout to be BIG MAD!” Former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke called the ruling “GREAT NEWS.” One commenter called it “sweet, poetic revenge” and noted that Democrats likely won the House with this ruling.
Since everyone is asking:
No, this doesn’t undo #Prop50. The trigger language was removed in the legislative process as it was clear that TX was redistricting. So, even if their map is invalidated/postponed, the Prop 50 maps stay in place. https://t.co/bENUYfolOS
— Paul Mitchell (@paulmitche11) November 18, 2025
