The White House has invited Nebraska state senators to Washington next week, where Republican strategists are expected to discuss potential mid-cycle redistricting, Axios reported.
President Donald Trump is seeking to increase the number of Republican-leaning congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections, with Nebraska and Kansas considered possible next steps.
Nebraska currently has three Republican members in the U.S. House. With the retirement of Rep. Don Bacon from the Omaha-based district, Democrats are viewed as having an opportunity to pick up a seat in 2026. Republican leaders are considering ways to stop that from happening.
In Kansas, where the governor is a Democrat, early conversations are underway about altering district boundaries that affect the state’s one Democrat-held U.S. House seat.
“They are chatting about it back home,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Axios. “I am staying out of that conversation. That’s a decision for the state Legislature.
“They probably have the veto-proof margin,” he said, referring to the possibility that Gov. Laura Kelly could veto a new map.
Last month, when Indiana lawmakers visited the White House, Vice President JD Vance joined the meeting. He and Trump later spoke with state House Speaker Todd Huston about how to draw additional Republican-leaning districts.
Indiana lawmakers are expected to consider new maps this fall in a special session, during which the Legislature could approve a plan adding two more GOP-leaning U.S. House districts. Democrats currently hold two of the state’s nine U.S. House seats.
The redistricting effort started in Texas. Republican lawmakers in that state, urged by Trump and led by Gov. Greg Abbott, redrew the state’s congressional map.
Democrat state House members left Texas for two weeks to scuttle a special session on redistricting by preventing a quorum needed to do business. But after that session ended, Abbott quickly called another one — and Democrats returned, satisfied that they had made their point and that California was proceeding with a counter plan.
Republicans hold 25 of the 38 congressional seats in Texas. A revised map passed Aug. 23 is intended to give Republicans a shot at picking up five additional seats in next year’s elections. Abbott’s signature made the map final.
In direct response to Texas, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Democrats launched Proposition 50, a proposed state constitutional amendment set for a November special election. If passed, it would suspend California’s independent redistricting commission and allow a Legislature-drawn map that could net up to five Democrat-leaning seats through the 2030 election cycle.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has publicly considered the possibility of a mid-decade redistricting to counterbalance GOP gains elsewhere, including Texas. However, experts note that it’s unlikely Illinois could extract another Democrat seat through redistricting alone.
Lawmakers in Missouri are currently trying to draw a new U.S. House map for the 2026 election that could improve the Republican Party’s numbers in Congress.
A special session called by Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, began Wednesday and will run at least a week.
Missouri is represented in the U.S House by six Republicans and two Democrats.
A revised map proposed by Kehoe would give Republicans a better chance at winning the seat held by Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver by stretching the Kansas City-based district into rural Republican-leaning areas.
Although Democrats could filibuster in the Senate, Republicans could use procedural maneuvers to shut that down and pass the new map.
Redistricting typically occurs once a decade, immediately after a census. But in some states, there is no prohibition on a mid-cycle map makeover. The U.S. Supreme Court also has said there is no federal prohibition on political gerrymandering, in which districts are intentionally drawn to one party’s advantage.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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