Nearly two weeks into the candidate filing period for the 2026 midterm election, a federal court is scrambling the landscape by knocking down the congressional maps the Texas lawmakers approved this summer.
The Republican-dominated legislature redrew the maps in hopes of giving their party as many as five additional pickup opportunities, helping to protect their narrow U.S. House majority in a potentially bruising midterm.
Voting rights advocates immediately sued, alleging racial discrimination in the new maps, but candidates from both parties started lining up for the newly reshaped districts anyway, creating a domino effect of down-ballot openings as well.
In just one example of the chaos, the new maps changed Texas’s 35th Congressional District from a deep blue Austin-to-San Antonio seat to a GOP pickup opportunity stretching southeast from San Antonio into a trio of counties that supported President Donald Trump.
That left the incumbent, progressive firebrand U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Austin), to fight it out with fellow Democrat Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) over the single remaining Austin-centric district — Texas’ 37th Congressional District — which Doggett ultimately ceded to Casar by signaling his retirement.
At the same time, the new GOP pickup opportunity in Casar’s district lured Republican John Lujan (R-San Antonio) to run for Congress instead of reelection in his Southside state House seat.
Multiple Republicans are now campaigning to succeed him in Texas 118th House District, and Lujan even endorsed a successor.
Texas’ redrawn maps set off a firestorm of similar efforts in other states, where Democrats hoped to offset the losses and Republicans are still seeking to build on the gains. California voters, for example, just approved a plans to redraw the state’s districts and potentially give Democrats five additional seats.
What happens now to Texas maps?
Tuesday’s decision came from a three-judge panel made up of both Republican and Democrat appointed judges: U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee; U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, a Barack Obama appointee; and Judge Jerry Smith, a Ronald Reagan appointee.
It reverts Texas’ congressional maps to their current boundaries, set in 2021, according to the Texas Tribune. But the ultimate decision now likely heads to the Supreme Court — leaving candidates in limbo while the dust settles.
Casar said Tuesday that if Tuesday’s decision holds, he plans to once again run in TX35.
“The Trump / Abbott maps are clearly illegal, and I’m glad these judges have blocked them,” he said on social media. “If this decision stands, I look forward to running for reelection in my current district.”
Lujan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the decision affects his plans.
Filing for the March primary is supposed to close Dec. 9. But a 2012 redistricting fight wound up pushing Texas’ primary back several months, while a court established an interim plan.
Tuesday’s ruling came as other changes were also in the works to accommodate the new maps.
For example, that same morning, Bexar County Commissioners were giving the Elections Department approval to update voting precincts for the 2026 election so that none would be split by the new districts.
Overall, the map the legislature approved would take the region from five congressional districts to four, removing the Bexar County portion of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar’s (D-Laredo) Texas’ 28th congressional district.
A delegation of three Democrats and two Republicans would change to a single solidly blue district, represented by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) two solidly Republican seats, represented by U.S. Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio) and Chip Roy (R-Dripping Springs), and one lean-red seat in the open 35th Congressional District.
Gonzales is running for reelection. Castro said he likely will too, but is still mulling a statewide race. Roy is running for Texas Attorney General instead of reelection, and a crowded field of Republicans is seeking to replace him.
