Pushed by Trump, Texas Republicans redesign the electoral map to win new mandates in Congress / Democrats promise to avenge in California

The measure of the Republicans aims to maintain the majority in the Chamber of Representatives in the elections of next year's term, I write BBC and Associated Press.

The room of the representatives of Texas has approved a controversial withdrawal of the borders of the constituencies, a plan designed to give the Republicans five new mandates at next year's elections for the US Congress.

After a two -week deadlock, in which the Democrats left the state to block the vote and mobilize the supporters, the project was approved in the state room of representatives on Wednesday, with 88 votes for and 52 against and was sent to the Senate, where they are expected to be approved quickly.

President Trump supported and explicitly requested the plan – greeting the Texas vote.

“A great victory for the Great State Texas !!! Everything has been approved, we are about to get five more places in Congress and to save your rights, freedoms and the country itself,” said Trump.

“Texas never disappoints us. Florida, Indiana and other states intend to do the same,” he said.

Things will not stop here.

The decision in Texas seems to start a general process of withdrawing the electoral maps, democrats promising to do in the states that they can control everything they can to compensate for any possible loss of mandates in Republican states, writes the BBC.

Five new republican mandates in Texas

Republicans are currently holding a fragile majority in the lower chamber of the US Congress, which the Democrats intend to regain in the intermediate elections of 2026.

It is what the Republicans want to prevent, and Texas is a good fighting ground.

Texas has 38 mandates in the US representative room. Republicans currently hold 25, and Democrats 12, with a vacant place after Democrat Sylvester Turner, former mayor of Houston, died in March.

The withdrawal planned by Donald Trump's party involves removing areas with democratic voters and adding others with Republican voters.

The modification could provide Republicans five new mandates, at least electoral analyzes, and would significantly increase their score in the room of Washington representatives.

Democrats have accused that the redesign of electoral maps is done on racial criteria.

“This draft law intentionally discriminates against the Texans of color and Hispanics, as well as other Texani of color, by fragmenting and concentrating the minority communities in the state of Texas,” said Chris Turner, Democrat representative from Arlington.

“It is a clear violation of the law of voting rights and the Constitution,” he accused. Republicans rejected the accusations.

“Prepare for a few opportunities to win”

Some Democrats are not extremely worried about the strategy of Republicans.

Democrat Vicente Gonzalez, which represents part of the Rio Grande valley along the border with Mexico, won the last mandate for Congress with a difference of only 5,000 votes. His place is one of the targets of the Republican strategy.

However, he told the Associated Press that the plan could return against the Republicans.

The democratic voters removed from his electoral constituency will reach another adjacent constituency, which will make that constituency more competitive – perhaps even enough for an unexpected democratic victory.

“Prepare yourself for a few opportunities to win,” said Gonzalez, adding that his party is already recruiting candidates to challenge the Republicans in the electoral constituencies that could be destabilized by this process.

The risks of redesign the electoral borders

The fear of accidentally creating insecure electoral constituencies is one of the reasons why the Republicans in Texas have cautiously drawn the lines in 2021, when the process of redistributing the electoral constituencies provided by the Constitution in all 50 states began.

Officials that draw the electoral maps – in most states, is the party that controls the legislature – must adjust the boundaries of the constituencies after each 10 -year census, to ensure that the districts have about the same number of inhabitants.

The process is legal, unless it proves to have racial motifs.

This is an opportunity for a party to manipulate the map at the expense of the other. However, there are risks, and the Republicans in Texas are aware of them.

In 2010, the legislature controlled by Republicans drew electoral borders that contributed to the consolidation of the majority of the Republican Party in the Chamber of Representatives. But this held until 2018, when a reaction against Trump in his first term allowed the Democrats to win two mandates in Texas that the Republicans considered intangible.

In 2021, the Republicans thus chose to strengthen their existing mandates, instead of targeting new districts from those controlled by Democrats.

This time, the Republicans are confident in their plan.

“The intelligent tracing of maps can provide opportunities to win, without endangering our current candidates,” said Press Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, which helps to coordinate maps for the party at national level.

Democratic California is ready to compensate for losses in Texas

The decision in Texas seems to be the beginning of a similar process in several states. Florida, New York, Ohio and Missouri consider similar changes.

California legislators also debate the withdrawal of electoral border, which would provide the Democrats five new mandates, which would cancel the changes made in Texas.

A key provision in California says that maps would only come into force if Texas or other states would continue with changes in favor of Republicans.

After the Texas vote, the governor of California Gavin Newsom reported that “the fight started”.

The California plan is supported by former President Barak Obama who noticed that this represents a “responsible” answer to the Texas decision.

Kathy Hoch, the democratic governor of New York, has also threatened to respond against republican measures to redistribution of electoral constituencies. “To start the game,” she said, after the Texas vote.