Democrats win in redrawn districts despite Republican map changes
Midterm results show that gerrymandered seats in Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas largely held for Democrats.
By Aiko Soto ·
Democrats captured control of several congressional seats in states where Republicans recently redrew district lines to favor their party. The victories occurred in Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas, according to Associated Press race calls on Tuesday.
President Trump urged Republicans to pursue mid-decade redistricting last year as the party prepared for potential losses. Legislators in those states acted on that directive, altering maps with the expectation that the coalition Trump won in 2024 would support them again in the midterms.
In Florida, Democrats Kathy Castor, Pia Dandiya, and Jared Moskowitz won their respective redrawn districts. In North Carolina, Democratic Rep. Don Davis retained his seat in the 1st District despite the new boundaries. The Downballot reported that Trump would have won that specific seat by nearly 12 percentage points under the old map.
Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District also flipped to the Democratic side. Rep. Shomari Figures held the seat after Republicans redrew the state's map following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act earlier this year. Trump would have won that Alabama district by an even larger margin than his projected victory in North Carolina's 1st District.
Texas, the first state to redistrict at Trump’s urging, saw several new districts go to Democrats. State Republicans had specifically banked on gains among Latino voters in the new maps. Many of those voters shifted their support to Democrats in this election cycle.
