Editor’s note: Wednesday Texas’ Republican-controlled House approves new maps to create more winnable GOP congressional seats.

By David L. Snelling

Miami – The battlelines have been drawn, once again, between Republicans and Democrats as both parties seek control of the U.S. House of Representatives during the 2026 midterm elections, and Florida and Texas are at the forefront.

Texas is redrawing a mid-decade congressional map to keep Republicans in control of the House at the bequest of President Donald Trump, and Florida GOP leaders are proposing to add more seats, sparking outrage among Democrats who call it gerrymandering.

The Supreme Court recently upheld a 2022 congressional redistricting map spearheaded by Florida Republican Gov. DeSantis which gave the GOP additional seats and disenfranchised Black voters in north Florida.

But the decision wasn’t enough for DeSantis.

He hinted at redrawing Florida’s congressional map again before the midterm elections to give Republicans additional seats.

Republicans in Congress have 20 among the 28 seats in Florida.

“I haven’t done it yet, I think that I will when I need to,” DeSantis said last week during a news conference. “But this is obviously something that we’re looking at very seriously.”

Republicans’ redistricting proposal focuses on the South Florida area, the Sun Sentinel reported.

Democrats in South Florida have five of the eight seats in Congress and Republicans are seeking to turn them red.

The districts that are represented by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DBroward County), the senior Democrat in the Florida delegation and U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, the veteran Palm Beach Democrat, might be targeted for redistricting.

The area represented by U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, the Broward-Palm Beach county Democrat serving his second term, also might be included in Florida’s congressional redistricting plan before the midterm elections.

Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez concurred with DeSantis with redrawing the congressional map in the state.

Perez announced he is creating a Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting to conduct hearings when the Legislature returns in September.

“As many of you are aware, there are national conversations ongoing in other states related to midterm redistricting,” Perez wrote in a memo to members of the Florida House.

State Sen. Shervin Jones (D-West Park) pushed back on redistricting and calling for bipartisan opposition.

“We’ve already seen the courts strike down Florida’s 2022 maps for violating the rights of Black voters, and now they’re at it again,” he said in a statement. It’s a pattern of suppression, not a coincidence,” he said.

Texas is causing an uproar by redrawing the state’s congressional districts which would impact millions of voters for the midterm elections if the map is approved.

But Democrats are determined not to let it happen without a fight.

Florida and Texas participated in a National Day of Action on Aug.16, rallies across the Lone Star State and Florida cities like Palm Coast, Jacksonville and Tallahassee to protest Trump and the Make America Great Again’s takeover.

The rallies were organized by the Texas for All Coalition, which warned Trump’s latest policies including deploying the military to fight crime in the nation’s Capital will destroy America.

“Across Texas, and across the country, communities are speaking out in a united voice to call for an end to the Trump takeover,” Drucilla Tigner, executive director of Texas For All, said in a prepared statement.

Trump told Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbot to find the GOP five additional seats for the midterm elections after political experts suggested the races will be close.

The districts the governor is proposing to change are Democratic strongholds including an area represented by U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar from El Paso.

Dozens of Texas House Democrats initially refused to participate in the redistricting plan during a special session despite being threatened with arrests by Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The Texas House of Representatives requires that 100 among their 151 members be present for the vote.

However, the Associated Press reported this week that Texas Democrats are ending their two-week walkout that stalled Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts.

They said they will return for a second special legislative session after seeing California Democrats proceed with plans to redraw their own U.S. House maps to neutralize Republican gains in Texas.

But Democrats condemned the redistricting proposal, calling it gerrymandering.

Texas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crocket denounced the redrawn congressional map because it would push her out of her district, and Blacks, Hispanic and Asian voters would not be represented in the state.

“Right now, African Americans are only gonna have one fifth of the voting power they should have in the state of Texas and we know that our Latino brothers and sisters will only have one-third of the voting power, and frankly, Asians, which is one of the fastest-growing demographics in the state of Texas, have literally no power,” Crockett claimed.