A federal district court’s ruling this week on a Texas redistricting scheme was bad news for Republicans, and a few Democratic politicians were happy to let them know it.
Back in August, at President Donald Trump’s behest, Republican officials in the Lone Star State enacted a new congressional district map ahead of the 2026 midterms to create five new House seats favoring their party.
But a panel of federal judges in El Paso ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that redrawing the congressional districts would harm Black and Hispanic Texans.
“Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map,” according to the ruling authored by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee.
The news comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) pushed for a ballot initiative to allow California’s state legislature to enact its own redistricting scheme favoring Democrats, and California voters approved it on Nov. 4.
“Donald Trump and Greg Abbott played with fire, got burned ― and democracy won,” Newsom crowed after the Texas court ruling came out.
Other Democrats piled on at the news.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who would have had to run for a different office or different district under the proposed Texas map, predicted: “Old Don bout to be BIG MAD!” before adding that she couldn’t be happier for Trump and “his flunky, Abbott.”
Former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke recapped the ruling and called it “GREAT NEWS.”
Others had thoughts about the ruling and its potential effect on the 2026 midterms, with one commenter calling it “sweet, poetic revenge.”
