2025 – President Donald Trump urges states to redraw congressional districts before the 2026 midterms, aiming to counter the historical midterm loss trend for the president’s party and prompting a wave of partisan redistricting initiatives nationwide[15].

Aug 29, 2025 – Gov. Greg Abbott signs Texas’s new congressional map, engineered to add five Republican‑leaning seats and reflecting Trump’s “pure and simple” partisan push[12].

Nov 4, 2025 – California voters approve Proposition 50, adopting a Democratic‑drawn map intended to help flip up to five House seats in the 2026 elections[15][13].

Nov 13, 2025 – The Trump administration files a lawsuit against California, claiming the new map illegally uses race to favor Hispanic voters and seeking to block its implementation[3].

Dec 4, 2025 – The U.S. Supreme Court issues an unsigned stay, freezing a lower‑court block and allowing Texas to use its revised map for the 2026 elections[10][11]. Justice Elena Kagan dissents, warning the stay “would result in a violation of the Constitution by placing voters in districts based on race”[11].

Dec 5, 2025 – The Supreme Court grants an emergency stay that lets Texas proceed with its GOP‑favored map while litigation continues, and separately issues a brief order upholding the map, effectively clearing it for 2026 use[16][8].

Dec 6, 2025 – Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, writes a concurrence linking Texas’s redistricting to “pure and simple partisan gain,” noting the case’s symmetry with California’s map[4].

Dec 11, 2025 – The Indiana State Senate rejects a Republican‑backed congressional map that would have unseated the state’s two Democratic House members, marking a rare intra‑party defeat for the Trump‑driven redistricting effort[3].

Dec 14, 2025 – Sen. Rand Paul warns that the nationwide partisan redistricting scramble “could increase civil tension and potentially lead to more violence,” emphasizing that both parties bear responsibility[7].

Dec 15, 2025 – A three‑judge federal panel in Los Angeles begins a hearing on a request for a temporary restraining order to block California’s new map before the Dec 19 filing deadline, with the Justice Department joining Republicans in alleging racial bias[14].

Jan 14, 2026 – A federal three‑judge panel in Los Angeles rules 2‑1 to allow California’s voter‑approved map to be used in the 2026 elections, rejecting Republican and DOJ attempts to block it and keeping the partisan redistricting battle alive[2][13].

Feb 2, 2026 – Democrat Taylor Rehmet wins Texas Senate District 9 special election by over 14 points, flipping a district Trump carried by 17 points in 2024 and signaling Democratic momentum that could affect the 2026 midterms[6].

Feb 3, 2026 – States across the nation accelerate mid‑decade redistricting: Texas’s map adds five GOP seats; California’s map adds five Democratic seats; Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia adopt maps that each add GOP seats, cementing a nationwide partisan reshaping ahead of the 2026 midterms[12].

Nov 2026 (future) – Texas schedules a regular election for Senate District 9, while the Supreme Court is set to issue a final ruling on the Texas congressional map and Republicans plan to appeal the California panel’s decision, keeping both maps in legal limbo as the 2026 midterms approach[6][13].