3:35A map illustrating the proposed U.S. Congressional Districts is displayed at a public hearing on congressional redistricting held by Texas lawmakers in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 1, 2025.Eric Gay/AP
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump asserted that Republicans are "entitled to five additional seats" in Texas, where a confrontation over redistricting is occurring among state legislators.
However, the political clash in the Lone Star State carries national significance, as control of the U.S. House may be at stake.
At the beginning of the 119th Congress, Republicans held the smallest House majority in nearly a century. Presently, the party has a 219-212 majority with four vacancies. Once those vacancies are filled, Democrats would need to secure just three additional seats in the upcoming November to reclaim the House.
U.S. House of Representatives party breakdown as of Aug. 2025ABC News
House Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose three Republicans in any vote where all members are present. This narrow margin has led to some challenges for Johnson in advancing Trump's comprehensive tax cut and spending legislation, amending cryptocurrency regulations, and more.
In an effort to safeguard the tenuous majority, or perhaps even increase it, Trump's political team reached out to Texas Republicans in June regarding the redrawing of the state’s congressional map in preparation for the 2026 midterm elections.
A map illustrating the proposed U.S. Congressional Districts is displayed at a public hearing on congressional redistricting held by Texas lawmakers in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 1, 2025.Eric Gay/AP
Historically, midterm elections have often been unfavorable for the party of the president, although Johnson stated last week when Texas Republicans unveiled the new maps that the GOP would "defy history" and "expand the majority in the House" in the upcoming elections.
Analysts previously informed ABC News that the new map could provide Republicans with an additional three to five seats if implemented. The proposed modifications would affect districts in Austin, Dallas, and Houston—regions that have typically leaned Democratic.
The redistricting efforts in Texas, which are seldom carried out mid-decade between census periods, have faced substantial opposition from Democrats.
In protest, Democratic lawmakers left the state, depriving Republicans of the necessary quorum to vote on implementing the new map. In retaliation, Republican Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest the Democrats and return them to Austin.
President Trump defended the action in a phone conversation with CNBC on Tuesday.
"We have an opportunity in Texas to gain five seats. We have an excellent governor, and we have strong people in Texas. And I won Texas, achieving the highest vote in the state’s history as you might know. We are entitled to five additional seats," Trump stated.
President Donald Trump gestures while boarding Air Force One at Lehigh Valley International Airport on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025, in Allentown, Pa.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Democratic leaders have vowed to counter the Texas Republican initiative with alternative maps of their own.
On Monday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, at a press conference with several Texas House Democrats in Albany, announced her intention to gerrymander her state's map—though she acknowledged it was improbable that this would occur before the 2026 midterms.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
