House Democrats are preparing a counterstrike in the redistricting wars — but they’re starting at a disadvantage.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his political team have been looking into all possible options to pursue redistricting in states with full Democratic control, according to a source familiar with his plans.
“We continue to have conversations with the state delegations, whether that’s in California or New York or beyond to explore what the opportunities and possibilities are,” Jeffries told reporters.
Democrats are desperate to push back against President Donald Trump’s brazen attempt to shift the House map in the GOP’s favor. Republicans are trying to muscle through new maps in Texas, Ohio and Missouri, with more red states potentially on deck.
But the two parties aren’t on a level playing field. Over the years, blue states have repeatedly ceded their redistricting authority to commissions. Red states haven’t.
That doesn’t mean that Democrats can’t fight back in the states they control, but it makes the process vastly more complicated. For the most part, Republican governors just have to call their legislatures into special sessions and pass new maps. By comparison, Democrats have to change their state constitutions.
The low-hanging fruit. Maryland, Oregon and Illinois have no redistricting commissions.
Democrats control the governorship and both chambers of the legislatures in these three states. The governors could call a special session and ask the legislature to create a new map.
The gains here would be somewhat limited because there are only five Republicans between the three states.
And courts will be the final arbiters for both parties. For example, in the 2022 cycle, a Maryland court thwarted a Democratic plan targeting Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), calling it “unconstitutional.”
Changing state constitutions. To strike down redistricting commissions in some big blue states, Democrats would likely have to amend state constitutions. They’d need voters to approve such changes.
These campaigns would be extremely expensive, and the timelines may be too tight for it to succeed. With that in mind, let’s dive into whether and how it could be done.
1) California. Gov. Gavin Newsom has laid out a possible plan in his state. Newsom could call a special election and ask voters to approve a legislatively-referred amendment to undo the commission.
There’s a path here to do this, but it’s pretty narrow. The reward could be a half-dozen new blue seats.
2) New Jersey. The state constitution requires that redistricting be done by a commission. And it explicitly bans mid-decade redistricting.
The state legislature can place an amendment undoing these provisions on the next general election ballot with a three-fifths vote. Democrats have the margins, but the issue is timing.
New Jersey’s constitution says legislators need 20 days notice of a proposed amendment before voting on it. Then the amendment must be advertised in newspapers “not less than three months prior to submission to the people.”
New Jersey’s 2025 elections are on Nov. 4. That three-month deadline is coming up very soon.
3) Colorado. Voters would need to adopt an amendment undoing the independent redistricting commission they approved in 2018.
Colorado voters can place amendments on the ballot by gathering signatures. Timing is again the problem here. The Colorado constitution states that votes on these ballot initiatives “shall be held at the biennial regular general election.” That would mean November 2026, which is too late for the midterms.
4) Washington State. The legislature can reconvene the redistricting commission for a mid-decade remap but only if two-thirds of each chamber agrees. Democrats don’t have a two-thirds majority in the state house or senate.
Democrats would also need Republican votes to amend the constitution. This is a heavy lift.
Using the courts. In some states, Democrats could push for favorable court rulings. But that won’t be easy.
1) New York. Democrats have repeatedly suffered devastating redistricting defeats in the New York State courts. They’ll need better luck in 2026.
The New York constitution bans redistricting again before the next census — unless it is ordered by a court. A lawsuit could get Democrats a court order for a new map. But they will be racing the clock to get that ruling.
Then, Democrats would have to get around their redistricting commission. This isn’t too difficult because the legislature can reject the commission’s work and take it over.
The big caveat here is the courts. In 2022, the state’s highest court struck down Democrats’ map for unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. This could very well happen again.
2) Utah. A Utah Supreme Court ruling from 2024 gave Democrats renewed hope of picking up a seat. Utah voters sued after their state legislature disregarded a successful ballot initiative that created an independent redistricting commission.
The justices reversed a lower court’s dismissal of part of that lawsuit, sending the case back to that court. This is promising but the court has not yet ruled.
3) Wisconsin. The state Supreme Court declined last month to hear challenges to the Badger State’s current congressional map.
A bipartisan coalition filed a new lawsuit in a lower court in July with the hopes of better reception once it reaches the state Supreme Court. But again, that might not happen in time.
