How redrawn House districts voted in the midterms

WASHINGTON — House Republicans were banking on their redistricting power play as a firewall against Democratic gains. Tuesday’s blue “tsunami” tore right through it.

Redraws of congressional maps across the country reshaped the fight for the House, putting new districts on the battleground and setting up some surprisingly close races. But as of midday Wednesday, Democrats appeared poised to lose only a few gerrymandered seats, and potentially none held by a Democrat seeking reelection.

In North Carolina and Tennessee, both states where Republicans redrew the maps, GOP incumbents whose seats had been considered safe or on the periphery of the House battleground were trailing as of Wednesday.

“We made it clear last year … that Republicans might start this redistricting and gerrymandering. Democrats were going to finish it. And last night that’s exactly what happened,” Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, said at a news conference Wednesday.

President Donald Trump kicked off the redistricting effort last summer, when he called for Texas to redraw its congressional lines. Democrats responded in California, where voters approved a new map that would give the party five pickup opportunities.

In total, nine states held elections in 2026 under new House maps, and attempts to redraw the congressional lines in other states fell short. Virginia Democrats were dealt a setback when the commonwealth’s Supreme Court invalidated a Democrat-led redraw that voters had approved via a referendum. Similarly, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Republicans from using a redrawn map in Missouri, which voters rejected via a referendum Tuesday.

Efforts to adopt new maps in Republican-led Indiana, South Carolina and Georgia also came up short.

Here’s how candidates running in redrawn districts fared on election night:

Texas

As of Wednesday afternoon, Democrats held four of the five seats that Texas Republicans targeted through redistricting.

32nd District: The Associated Press had yet to call the election between Republican Air Force veteran Jace Yarbrough and former Richardson City Council Member Dan Barrios, in a redrawn district that Trump would have carried by 18 points in 2024.

9th District: The Houston-area district would have backed Trump by 20 points under the new lines, but Democrat Leticia Gutierrez comfortably held the seat for her party over Republican Army veteran Alex Mealer.

35th District: Democrat Johnny Garcia, a former Bexar County sheriff’s deputy, defeated Republican Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz in a redrawn San Antonio-area district that Trump would have carried by 10 points.

28th District: Longtime Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar’s South Texas seat was another Republican target, but he defeated party-switching Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina in a landslide.

34th District: Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez coasted to reelection over Republican Eric Flores, a former federal prosecutor, in a redrawn Trump +10 South Texas district.

Texas Democrats also flipped the massive 23rd District, which hugs the U.S.-Mexico border, and the 15th District in South Texas.

Florida

Florida Republicans were hoping to pick up as many as four seats under their new map, but Democrats have held on to at least three of them.

9th District: Rep. Darren Soto, who went into Election Day as the most vulnerable House Democrat, was clinging to a narrow lead over Republican Navy veteran Dan Green in a redrawn Central Florida seat that Trump would have carried it by 18 points.

14th District: Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor held off a challenge from Republican former state Rep. Mike Beltran, despite her Tampa Bay district transforming into one that would have backed Trump by 11 points.

22nd District: Democrat Pia Dandiya kept this open South Florida seat in party hands, defeating Republican Casey Askar in a Trump +10 district.

25th District: Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz defeated Republican former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer in a Trump +9 district that hosted one of the most expensive House races this year.

Ohio

Ohio was required under state law to draw a new map ahead of the 2026 elections. In a surprise, Republicans and Democrats on the state’s redistricting commission struck a deal that resulted in new lines that favored the GOP, but not as much as Democrats had feared.

9th District: Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in congressional history, won her rematch against Republican former state Rep. Derek Merrin by an even wider margin in a Toledo-area district that would have backed Trump by 11 points.

1st District: Rep. Greg Landsman had no trouble winning reelection over Republican Eric Conroy, a former Air Force intelligence officer, in a redrawn Trump +3 district in the Cincinnati area.

In addition, Ohio Democrats had flipped the GOP-held 7th and 15th districts as of Wednesday afternoon.

North Carolina

It wasn’t a surprise that North Carolina joined the GOP-led redistricting push; the new 2026 map was the state’s six in seven election cycles and gave Republicans the edge in 11 out of 14 seats. The primary focus of the new GOP-drawn map was the 1st District, but shockingly, as of Wednesday afternoon, six Republican incumbents, including National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson, were trailing in their reelection bids.

1st District: Rep. Don Davis’ Eastern North Carolina seat grew more competitive under the new map, shifting to one Trump would have carried by 12 points. But the second-term Democrat was leading Republican Army veteran Laurie Buckhout at publication time.

Alabama

After the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling that weakened parts of the Voting Rights Act , the court allowed Alabama to use a new map that would favor Republicans in a district that had been drawn the previous cycle as a second Black-opportunity district.

2nd District: This plurality-Black, Kamala Harris-voting district was redrawn as one Trump would have carried by 14 points. Nevertheless, Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures comfortably prevailed over Republican state Rep. Rhett Marques.

Louisiana

After the Supreme Court invalidated Louisiana’s congressional map under the Callais ruling, state Republicans adopted new boundaries expected to help them flip one seat.

6th District: The new map eliminated the majority-Black seat created the previous cycle, which the Supreme Court ruled was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields opted to run for the state Senate instead of seeking reelection in a redrawn Trump +32 district. This year’s election reverted to Louisiana’s “jungle” primary system, with all candidates running on the same ballot. And with no one likely to take a majority of the primary vote, the top-two finishers will advance to a Dec. 12 runoff.

Tennessee

Tennessee Republicans moved quickly after the Callais ruling, adopting a map that gave them the advantage in all nine of the state’s House seats.

9th District: The Memphis-based district, a formerly deep-blue bastion, was dramatically redrawn as a seat Trump would have carried by 21 points. And yet Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor was barely ahead of Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson as of Wednesday afternoon.

California

California’s new voter-approved map led to significant reshuffling in the state delegation, setting up a member-versus-member fight and prompting Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley to become an independent.

1st District: Republican James Gallagher, who topped CQ Roll Call’s final list of the most vulnerable House members, lost to Democratic former state Senate leader Mike McGuire in a Harris +12 Northern California district. Gallagher won a June special election under the old lines to succeed the late GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa.

3rd District: The new map redrew Kiley’s 3rd District as a solid-blue Sacramento-area seat, prompting Democratic Rep. Ami Bera to seek reelection here. Kiley opted for the slightly-less-blue 6th District but was defeated by former Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan.

22nd District: GOP Rep. David Valadao saw his purple Central Valley seat moved a tad left, though Trump would still have carried it. Still, the Republican lost to progressive Democrat Randy Villegas.

41st District: Redistricting dismantled Rep. Ken Calvert’s Riverside County seat, and he opted to challenge fellow GOP Rep. Young Kim in the deep-red 40th District. Democratic Rep. Linda T. Sánchez won the new 41st, now a blue stronghold in Los Angeles County.

48th District: Republican Rep. Darrell Issa announced his retirement after the new map transformed his deep-red Southern California seat into a purple battleground. Democrat Marni von Wilpert, a San Diego city councilmember, was leading Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego county supervisor, as of Wednesday afternoon.

Utah

A Utah judge approved a new map that gave Democrats a pickup opportunity and set off a round of musical chairs among the state’s four Republican House members that culminated with Rep. Burgess Owens opting to retire.

1st District: Democratic former Rep. Ben McAdams defeated Gen Z Republican Riley Owen in the new district, anchored in deep-blue Salt Lake City.

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