The redistricting wars are raging.
What happens next?
History provides little guidance, because never before has there been a cross-country campaign to redraw congressional districts at mid-decade and on the fly. But the repercussions, both immediate and far-reaching, are likely to bolster Republican prospects in the midterms, weaken the political middle, reduce minority representation in Congress and intensify the nation's polarization.
Texas Republicans, urged on by President Donald Trump, began the redistricting bidding last August. California Democrats responded in kind. And a U.S. Supreme Court ruling April 29 opened the floodgates even as the November elections loom.
"Texas will be the biggest one," Trump had boasted to reporters at the White House in July, a prediction that turned out to be accurate. "And that'll be five [seats]."
