Texas can keep its redrawn congressional map, which created more Republican-favored districts, for the 2026 midterm elections, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
The redrawn congressional lines, which were signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in August, has pushed Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, the University’s current U.S. representative, out of office, he announced in a Friday news release. The 15-term congressman is likely to be replaced by Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, who announced he would run for the seat if the maps were upheld.
“I will continue working with the same urgency and determination as if next year were my last, which in public office it will be,” Doggett wrote in a news release. “After that, I will seek new ways to join my neighbors in making a difference in the only town I have ever called home.”
Casar did not respond to a request for comment.
The redrawn map is expected to provide Republicans five more favorable congressional districts for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections by spreading voters who have historically voted Republican across more districts.
“We won! Texas is officially—and legally—more red,” Abbott said in a news release. “The new congressional districts better align our representation in Washington D.C. with the values of our state. This is a victory for Texas voters, for common sense, and for the U.S. Constitution.”
The Supreme Court ruling all but guarantees the new map for the 2026 midterm elections. Associate Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the concurring opinion, argued that the federal court’s stay “improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign,” leading up to the Dec. 8 candidacy filing deadline.
The redistricting efforts originally stalled in the Texas legislature after state Democrats broke quorum to delay the vote to redistrict during a special legislative session in July. Months after the map passed, a federal panel blocked the new map and ordered Texas to return to its 2021 congressional lines.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote in his ruling the new map violated the 14th and 15th Amendments by drawing congressional lines on the basis of race, and sided with the League of United Latin American Citizens, who filed the case.
“Tonight’s ruling is a setback for every American who believes that voting should carry equal weight regardless of race,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC National President and Chairman of the Board. “Allowing these maps to stand as guides for the coming elections sends a troubling message: that communities can be sorted by race in ways that weaken their voices. LULAC will not retreat.”
State Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed the appeal to the Supreme Court after the three-judge panel blocked the map, said the ruling was a victory for Texas and state Republicans.
“In the face of Democrats’ attempt to abuse the judicial system to steal the U.S. House, I have defended Texas’s fundamental right to draw a map that ensures we are represented by Republicans,” Paxton said in a news release. “Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state.”
