Lawmakers in California and Texas – the two most populous US states that together contain more than 70 million Americans – are at the centre of an intense political battle that is poised to have a major impact on the balance of power in Washington DC.
After Texas passed a redistricting measure that would create five more congressional seats favouring Republicans, California lawmakers hit back on Thursday by voting to re-draw the state’s maps – carefully made to cancel out Texas’ move. The California maps will go before voters in November.
This political arms race for power may seem both bizarre and confusing – but it is one that could spread to other states in advance of next year’s national midterm elections.
Here’s what you should know about America’s fight over congressional redistricting.
The battle began in Texas this summer, when the Republican-majority legislature took the unusual step of re-drawing congressional seats in the middle of the decade – in a deliberate effort to send more Republicans to the House of Representatives in Washington.
The Lone Star State’s goal was to add five additional congressional seats, which would favour Republicans. California responded by re-drawing its own districts to boost Democratic representation by five seats, in an attempt to cancel out the move by Texas.
What is redistricting?
The US House of Representatives is made up of 435 legislators who are elected every two years.
They represent districts with boundaries determined in processes set by their state governments. Some states have non-partisan independent commissions which determine districts, while others leave it up to the state legislature.
Who draws the lines and how can go a long way in shaping the ideological tilt of the district and the likelihood that it elects a Democrat or a Republican.
At the moment, the House rests on a knife’s edge, with Democrats only needing to seize three more seats to flip the chamber in their balance.
The president’s party historically loses seats in the midterm election after their victory.
If Democrats seize the House, they can launch sweeping investigations of presidential actions, as Democrats did in the second half of Donald Trump’s first term and Republicans did in Joe Biden’s final two years.
