STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Democratic-led states are deciding how to respond. As a Republican-led state, Texas considers new voting districts for Congress.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The rare mid-decade redistricting plan is by Republicans with the goal of helping Republicans keep control of the U.S. House, and it has the backing of President Trump.
INSKEEP: NPR's Hansi Lo Wang has been tracking this and joins us now. Good morning.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, so what is this map? What's it look like?
WANG: It looks like the kind of map that President Trump has said he wants. As we've talked about before, Trump has said he wants Republicans to pick up five additional congressional House seats in Texas after next year's midterm election. There's an early analysis by the Cook Political Report that says this map could help Republicans win 30 districts in Texas. Right now, Republicans have 25. But we should keep in mind there could be surprises in how the voters in these proposed districts would actually vote.
INSKEEP: Fair point because sometimes the voting patterns change, but the intent here, the open, explicit intent, is to skew the results toward Republicans. How will this get passed?
WANG: It's not clear at this point. You know, this is the first proposal by Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives, and it's still relatively early. This could be a weekslong process. And a key thing here to keep in mind is that even if Texas lawmakers pass this map or another one, there will likely be lawsuits.
INSKEEP: And what would be the legal arguments here?
WANG: Well, this proposal makes a lot of changes to the current map, including to four districts in the Houston and Dallas areas. Those are the same four districts that two Trump officials at the Justice Department called, quote, "unconstitutional." This is in a letter to Texas' governor. Now, a lot of legal experts don't buy that argument, and they say undoing those districts could raise some actual constitutional problems. And national Democratic leaders have said they are prepared to sue.
INSKEEP: And they're not just relying on the courts, it seems to me. Democrats are preparing all sorts of responses or at least discussing all sorts of responses across the country.
WANG: That's right. You know, they're looking into ways of picking up more House seats in other states, but they are in a real bind because over the years, they have supported redistricting rules and independent commissions in states like California and New York that are supposed to prevent this party-driven mid-decade redistricting that we're seeing right now in Texas. And there was an interesting statement this week from former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. He chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee now. And the statement says, quote, "we do not oppose - on a temporary basis - responsible responsive actions to ensure the foundations of our democracy are not permanently eroded," unquote. So it sounds like some top Democrats are on board with trying to go toe-to-toe with this Republican gerrymandering, at least for now.
INSKEEP: Wow. And undoing some of their own efforts at reform in blue states. What other states are talking about redistricting here, though?
WANG: Well, Ohio has to draw a new congressional map, as we've talked about before, and there may be maps because of lawsuits in a lot of other states - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin. A lot of states. And any changes could help determine whether Republicans keep the House or lose it to the Democrats because it's just so close.
INSKEEP: It's just amazing to think about this because, hypothetically, what we're talking about is the exact same distribution of votes between Democrats and Republicans, but depending on where you draw the lines, you could have a difference in who controls the House of Representatives.
WANG: A lot at stake.
INSKEEP: Hansi, thanks so much.
WANG: You're welcome, Steve.
INSKEEP: NPR's Hansi Lo Wang. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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