Texas maps. The Texas legislature will come back into session today in Austin where it will redraw the state’s congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. President Donald Trump has been pushing this effort, hoping to squeeze five new Republican seats out of the Lone Star State.
Texas Democrats are on edge over potential changes to the map. The delegation has already spoken with attorneys in preparation of an inevitable lawsuit.
Republicans are eyeing several changes to the district lines — as we’ve reported.
Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar’s district in and around Laredo. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s seat, which runs from the Texas-Mexico border to south of Corpus Christi.
Rep. Julie Johnson’s Dallas-area district. Republicans are also eyeing changes to a Houston-area seat. There are four Democratic seats in Houston surrounded by six Republican seats in the suburbs and exurbs. Republicans are likely to try to draw another seat from this mix. Democratic Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, who represents a strong Democratic district in Houston, could be left without a district.
There’s an open question over the location of the fifth seat. Options include:
A new seat in the Austin area. Democratic Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett represent most of Austin, so they would have the most to lose. Republican Reps. Michael McCaul and Chip Roy also hold seats around the Texas capital. The question here is will the 78-year-old Doggett retire to allow the 36-year-old Casar to represent Austin. Also, McCaul had an underwhelming second quarter, raising a paltry $92,586. He has just $92,775 in the bank, putting him atop the list of potential GOP retirements.
Rep. Veronica Escobar’s El Paso seat. Escobar shares El Paso with GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales. Escobar’s district shifted decidedly to the right in 2024. Joe Biden won the seat by 35 points in 2020, but Kamala Harris only beat Trump by 16 in 2024. Escobar won by 19 points.
Relatedly, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) has another ad up in Houston and Dallas, as Texans wonder whether the lawmaker will run for Senate. Remember: Hunt’s district is in Houston so he has no reason to be running ads in Dallas other than to get his statewide name ID up.
This is another bio spot that is focused on family, in what could be interpreted as a subtle jab at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is in the midst of a nasty divorce. The spot ends with a photo of Trump and Hunt next to Trump’s 757 jet.
Fundraising. NRCC finally outraised the DCCC in June and for all of the second quarter.
The House GOP campaign arm raised $18.1 million in June and $32.2 million in Q2. Their Democratic counterpart raised $12.7 million in June for a Q2 total of $29.1 million.
The NRCC last outraised the DCCC in March 2025, $21.5 million to $16.6 million. But the DCCC is generally stronger at fundraising. And even though it fell behind in March, the DCCC still raised more than the NRCC in Q1.
The DCCC also has more cash-on-hand. It ended June with $39.7 million to the NRCC’s $37.6 million. Neither committee has any outstanding debt.
Also: We got our hands on the first campaign memo from Scott Brown’s campaign for senator from New Hampshire.
