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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.
Donald Trump and Greg Abbott played with fire, got burned -- and democracy won.
This ruling is a win for Texas, and for every American who fights for free and fair elections. https://t.co/gyXPoVFMmC
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.”
GREAT NEWS.
Trump's Texas gerrymander of 5 Congressional seats knocked down.
Trump-appointed judge says "Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map."
Orders Texas midterms proceed under prior maps. https://t.co/AWPAzVOPup
Others had thoughts about the ruling and its potential effect on the 2026 midterms, with one commenter calling it “sweet, poetic revenge.”
The irony is chef’s kiss: Texas Republican kicked off 2026' gerrymandering war…and now the courts just torched their map. Democrats didn’t just win the war—they likely won the House with this ruling. Sweet, poetic revenge for Team Democracy. pic.twitter.com/mNqTBiwp9Z
— Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) November 18, 2025When you spend years twisting district lines to silence a Black woman who had the audacity to fight for her community, don’t act stunned when a federal judge looks at your little gerrymander stunt and says, “Absolutely not.”
Greg Abbott tried to rig the map hoping nobody would…
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🚨MAJOR BREAKING: A three-judge panel just ruled that Texas CANNOT use its new gerrymandered congressional map for the 2026 election and has to stick with the lines passed in 2021.
This is a MAJOR blow for Republicans. pic.twitter.com/XTO6FHW0tG
Reading the opinion, it seems like the Trump Admin really screwed up here. They told the Texas governor *explicitly* to redraw majority-minority districts. That provides potential grounds for striking down the maps as a racial gerrymander. https://t.co/zIBa6OhZjQ
— Matt Spence (@matthewswspence) November 18, 2025Since everyone is asking:
No, this doesn't undo #Prop50. The trigger language was removed in the legislative process as it was clear that TX was redistricting. So, even if their map is invalidated/postponed, the Prop 50 maps stay in place. https://t.co/bENUYfolOS
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