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By Fredreka Schouten, CNN (CNN) — National political leaders are making frantic, last-ditch efforts in multiple states to redraw more US House districts ahead of next year’s midterms. But their ambitions face big political and procedural obstacles and in some cases, open rebellion from state lawmakers pushing back against pressure from the top leaders in their own parties. Consider Kansas, where Republican lawmakers are trying to force a special session and join the wave of states undertaking once-rare, mid-decade redistricting to gain an edge in the 2026 congressional elections. GOP leaders this week were working to secure the signatures from two-thirds of lawmakers in both chambers needed to bypass the state’s Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and proceed. On the line: the US House seat currently held by four-term Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids. “I think it’s terrible for democracy,” said Kansas state Rep. Mark Schreiber, one of the remaining Republican holdouts, in an interview with CNN. “It’s fairly simple: Redistricting was meant to accommodate changes in the population, based on the decennial census, and that’s it.” “This mid-cycle redistricting is being done only for political purposes, in this case to maintain a Republican majority in the US House,” Schreiber added. “I don’t think that’s an appropriate use.” Democrats also have faced resistance as they ramp up their redistricting campaign. In Maryland, for instance, a top Democratic lawmaker has balked at taking up map-drawing, warning it will only escalate the ongoing redistricting arms race and help Republicans in the end. National Democrats are seeking changes to maps in at least three other states: New York, Virginia and Illinois. The president’s party typically loses ground in midterm elections. If Democrats gain three seats next year, they will win the House and obtain the power to block parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda. But Republicans have more opportunities than Democrats do to shape the election outcome through congressional mapmaking. So far, GOP lawmakers have redrawn seats in three states – Texas, Missouri and North Carolina – to add a total of seven potential seats to the Republican column. Inside the Democrats’ push Trump’s political operation instigated the political arms race this year when they persuaded Texas to undertake redistricting and create five additional GOP-friendly seats. Next week, California voters will decide whether to counter that and approve five additional Democratic-friendly seats, representing the largest tranche of seats Democrats can secure through a map change in a single state. The states now eyeing new maps represent “the third-tier opportunities for redistricting,” said Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of Inside Elections, an independent political newsletter. But, he said, “in order to squeeze an advantage, you have to go piecemeal once you get beyond the big hitters. For Democrats, especially, California is all they have.” Virginia, a purple state where Democrats hold the majorities in both chambers of the legislature, is potentially the biggest remaining redistricting prize for the party. Democrats currently hold six of the state’s 11 seats in the US House, and an aggressive map redraw could potentially give the party nine or 10 seats. But it will take a monthslong effort to get there as lawmakers tackle multiple hurdles to bypass the redistricting process the state established five years ago. Under current law, the power to redistrict rests with a bipartisan redistricting commission created by voters through a constitutional amendment. First, Democrats must pass language to amend the state constitution before Tuesday’s elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates. Then, it must be approved again next year in a second legislative session before voters have their say in a statewide referendum. Virginia Republicans have signaled that they intend to mount legal challenges to any action by the legislature, arguing that Democrats already have run afoul of a requirement to pass the proposed constitutional amendment before the election since early voting is underway. The US House’s top Democrat, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, is working to persuade Illinois lawmakers to eke out an additional seat there, despite objections from the head of the state Senate’s Black caucus. In Jeffries’ home state of New York, a new lawsuit by a leading Democratic-aligned elections firm takes aim at the sole Republican-held seat in New York City. After meeting with Jeffries this week, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said in a statement that “all options must remain on the table to protect our democracy.” But at least one Democrat in the state – state Sen. Willie Preston, who heads the Black caucus in his chamber – has opposed it, arguing the new map risks diluting Black political power in the state. Preston is running for a US House seat now held by Rep. Robin Kelly. Kelly is running for an open US Senate seat to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. “Black Democrats have given our all to our party – the answer to fighting back against Trump’s efforts to crush Black political power cannot be diluting Black political power,” Preston said in statement. In deep-blue Maryland, the state Senate President William Ferguson has publicly opposed map-drawing targeting the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation. But other Democrats, including Jeffries, insisted Wednesday that redistricting remains a viable option in the state. Rare GOP resistance to Trump For Republicans, the most immediate battleground is Indiana, where GOP Gov. Mike Braun has announced a special legislative session starting next week to tackle a redistricting plan that could possibly yield two more seats for his party – although it’s uncertain that the plan has enough support among Republicans in the state Senate majority to succeed. Some Indiana Republicans have been among those resisting Trump’s moves, despite significant lobbying by the president and two visits to the state by Vice President JD Vance. Braun, a staunch Trump ally, has called legislators back to the statehouse to start working on a redraw next week. But on the same day that Braun announced the legislative session, Molly Swigart, a spokeswoman for the top Republican in the state Senate, said there still were not enough Republican votes to support redistricting in that chamber. Asked Wednesday for an update, Swigart responded: “I do not have anything new to share.” Prominent Republicans in the state, including former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, have opposed the redistricting. Under the current map, the GOP holds seven of the state’s nine US House seats. In a recent Washington Post column, Daniels said the current map is fair and urged Republicans in the Hoosier State to continue to resist. “Someone has to lead in climbing out of this mudhole,” he wrote. “We generally pride ourselves in doing what’s right, not what’s easy,” Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist and former Indiana lawmaker, told CNN. “We take our time. We weigh things.” In another Republican-controlled state, Louisiana lawmakers this week took steps that could give their party an edge next year. Legislators voted to delay the state’s 2026 primary elections by a month to give them more time to draw new congressional lines if the US Supreme Court decides a redistricting case in the state’s favor. ‘An incredible Pandora’s box’ While Republicans have structural advantages that allow them to rack up more seats through redistricting than Democrats can, Rubashkin of Inside Elections said the final outcome of the ongoing redistricting battle is unclear, particularly if next year becomes a wave election for Democrats, akin to 2018 midterm elections when the party gained more than 40 House seats during Trump’s first term. “If the partisan, national environment is favorable enough to one party or the other, you cannot redistrict your way into the majority,” he said. However, Rubashkin added, the redistricting push now underway likely has changed US politics, by opening “an incredible Pandora’s box … that will persist long after this election cycle. I don’t see what will stop states that have the capacity from simply redrawing every two years.”
