A handful of states have placed themselves front and center in a national redistricting battle after Texas took an unusual step to do mid-decade redistricting and advance a friendlier map for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms. 

The Lone Star State’s map, which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed into law on Friday, has prompted red and blue states alike to consider redrawing their own maps. California is the only state so far to tee up a potential new House map ahead of next year in response, where voters will weigh in November whether to pass new congressional lines. 

The redistricting tit-for-tat will have major implications for which party controls the House – and whether President Trump could see a check on his power in Congress. 

Here’s where key states stand on redistricting:  

Texas

The GOP-led state legislature in Texas passed a new set of congressional lines this month, with the intent of giving Republicans the chance to pick up five seats in the midterms – an effort that was driven by Trump and the White House. 

Abbott signed the map into law on Friday, but several organizations have already sued the state over the congressional maps, arguing that the map is unconstitutional and violates the Voting Rights Act. 

A federal court has already scheduled dates for a preliminary injunction hearing in one of the lawsuits, which will run from Oct. 1 through Oct. 10. 

California

California lawmakers advanced a new set of congressional lines aimed at neutralizing expected gains from Texas’ new map, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signing the bill.  

The new House map will go before voters in a special election in November, where a simple majority is needed in order to enact the map before the midterms.  

The California Supreme Court has rejected two challenges by Republicans over the new House map, but President Trump has said he intends to sue over them.

Ohio

The Buckeye State was originally the only state expected to redraw its congressional maps this year after the House map used in 2022 didn’t receive bipartisan support.  

Republicans will be eyeing the chance to redraw Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur’s and Emilia Sykes’ seats to make them even more GOP-friendly. Kaptur’s seat is already Republican-favored, having gone for Trump by close to seven points in 2024 while Sykes’ district evenly split their votes between Trump and former Vice President Harris. 

Republicans may also try to redraw Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman’s seat, though his will likely be harder to change given the seat includes Cincinnati.  

The process to redraw the maps will begin in the coming weeks. The state legislature gets the first go at drawing the congressional lines, where lawmakers need to reach a certain threshold of bipartisan support in each chamber in order to pass a new map, with a deadline of Sept. 30. 

If the state legislature can’t pass their House map with bipartisan support, the process is kicked over to the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which gets the chance to draw a map, with a deadline of Oct. 31. If the commission is unable to pass the map without bipartisan support, the state legislature gets another go at drawing the map, which must be passed by Nov. 30. 

If the House map receives enough bipartisan support in the state legislature to pass, it’s used for the next decade. If the congressional lines don’t receive enough bipartisan support, they’re only in place for four years. 

Indiana

The White House has been pushing for Indiana state lawmakers to redraw their House map, with Vice President Vance traveling to the Hoosier State earlier this month and later  bringing up the topic with them again during their recent visit at the White House. 

President Trump reportedly spoke with top statehouse leaders as well. While some Republicans initially opposed to the idea of redistricting have since come around, statehouse leaders and Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) have been noncommittal so far.  

Braun is looking to statehouse leaders to see what kind of support redistricting has among the members. 

Missouri

The White House has also been pressing top leaders in Missouri to redraw their map, and on Friday, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) announced he would be calling a special session to convene starting Sept. 3 to consider redrawing the state’s House map.

“This is about clarity for voters and ownership of our future, and I hope the legislature will work together to pass our Missouri First Map and critically needed IP reform,” Kehoe said in a statement, with a press release including a House map his team made to be considered by state lawmakers.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) in the state’s 5^th Congressional District is most vulnerable here. But Republicans will have to be cautious in how they draw their map given the GOP ultimately nixed a plan in 2022 to draw a 7-1 map over concerns it could endanger some Republicans. 

Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signaled the Sunshine State should reconsider its House map ahead of 2026, and lawmakers are starting to take some steps in that direction. 

Florida state House Speaker Daniel Perez (R) announced earlier this month that he would be creating a select committee on redistricting – a move that came about a month after the Florida Supreme Court upheld the state’s current map, which reconfigured former Rep. Al Lawson’s (D-Fla.) district, with three GOP lawmakers now holding parts of Lawson’s old district. 

It’s unclear exactly when lawmakers are looking to meet and ultimately pass a new House map, though Perez noted that he would announce in September the members who would be included in the select committee.  

Utah

The Utah Supreme Court delivered Democrats a win this month when it ordered the state to no longer use the congressional map the state passed in 2021.  

It also determined that a ballot measure passed in 2018, which mandated the creation of an independent redistricting commission and was later repealed and replaced with a commission that was structured differently, was the law in Utah. 

The state Supreme Court told lawmakers that it needed to redraw its map in compliance with the 2018 ballot initiative by Sept. 24. A hearing on the maps will be scheduled in mid-October.  

The high court’s decision is likely to give Democrats one pick-up opportunity in the Beehive State. 

Louisiana

Louisiana was required to create a second Black-majority district in the last election cycle after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to redraw its map following a Supreme Court case playing out in Alabama. 

The Supreme Court was expected to issue a ruling over the congressional lines this summer after a group of “non-African American voters” sued over the new map, but in an unusual move, announced in June it would be rehearing the case. Oral arguments are scheduled for Oct. 15. 

The question the Supreme Court is focusing on is “whether the State’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.” 

The state is urging for the high court to effectively throw out its current map, saying in a supplemental brief filed on Wednesday that the court should determine that “the intentional creation of a second majority-minority district in” the congressional map “is unconstitutional.” 

“…the Court has assumed, but never decided, that race-based redistricting in the name of compliance with Section 2 of the VRA is constitutional,” the filing argues. “It is not for two independent reasons. First, race-based redistricting is categorically unconstitutional because it violates fundamental equal protection principles. Second, it fails strict scrutiny. Either way, race-based redistricting is unconstitutional.” 

Alabama

One state to watch in the broader redistricting battle will be Alabama. A three-judge panel earlier this month ordered the state to use the map that Alabama used during the 2024 cycle, which was created by a special master and established a second Black-majority House district, for the remainder of the decade. 

In a filing after the three-judge panel handed down its decision to use the congressional lines drawn by a special master, Alabama Republicans said they were appealing that decision to the high court. 

Illinois

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) have left the door open to potentially redrawing the Prairie State’s House map, though there has been little movement publicly yet. 

Democrats hold 14 of the 17 House seats in the district – a map that already gives a heavy partisan advantage to Democrats and which has been rated poorly by redistricting experts on partisan fairness and competitiveness. 

Illinois and Maryland have easier paths to redrawing their maps as the states only need to pass new maps through the state legislature and are subject to the governor’s signature or veto.  

Newsom has put pressure on states like Illinois and New York to begin taking up redistricting in their own states.

Maryland

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said last week that he’s actively looking at redistricting in his state, saying “all options are on the table.”  

Maryland’s House Majority Leader in July proposed legislation that would allow the state to do mid-decade redistricting if another state initiated redrawing their maps first.  

Redistricting the state is tricky enough given the Maryland congressional delegation includes seven Democrats and one Republican.  

But Democrats would need to be especially cautious in trying to redraw their map given the one Democrats looked to use in the 2022 cycle – which essentially would have created eight Democratic-favored districts — was struck down by a court over partisan gerrymandering. 

New York

Lawmakers in the Empire State have already introduced legislation that would amend the state Constitution to allow legislators to redraw their map if another state engages in mid-decade redistricting. 

New York Democrats would need to pass that constitutional amendment in two consecutive legislative sessions before it goes to voters for a vote, meaning the Empire State wouldn’t be able to redraw its maps ahead of 2026 but could do so in the 2028 cycle. 

The Trump administration has suspended approval for most types of visitor visas for Palestinian passport holders, according to a State Department cable reported by multiple media outlets.

The internal memo, dated Aug. 18, instructed U.S. embassies and consulates to reject nonimmigrant visas to “all otherwise eligible Palestinian Authority passport holders” who are using that passport to apply for a visa, multiple media outlets reported.

The sweeping new policy — which the State Department said was “effective immediately” — reportedly applies to visas for tourists, university students, businesspeople and individuals seeking medical treatment.

The new policy extends beyond the recently announced restrictions on visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza. The latest policy would affect Palestinians seeking to enter the U.S. from the West Bank or the Palestinian diaspora, according to The New York Times, which was first to report on the policy shift.

In a statement to The Hill, a State Department spokesperson said, “The Trump administration is taking concrete steps in compliance with U.S. law and our national security in regards to announced visa restrictions and revocations for PA passport holders.”

“Every visa decision is a national security decision, and the State Department is vetting and adjudicating visa decisions for PA passport holders accordingly,” the spokesperson said, referring to the initials of the Palestinian Authority, which governs part of the West Bank.

The move also comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he would be denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly. 

“The Trump Administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” the State Department said in a statement Friday.

As kids pack their backpacks for the school year, too many will carry more than school supplies — they’ll carry the weight of the economic stress of their parents and the adults around them. Whether it’s a parent, a grandparent, a child-care worker or a teacher, many of the adults who nurture our children are struggling to make ends meet.

Millions live in households that lack adequate food, housing, clothing and other basic needs. Nearly 1.5 million children experience homelessness, and almost 14 million live in homes that experience food insecurity. This instability spills into the classroom, affecting not only children’s attendance, learning, behavior and opportunity, but ultimately the health of our economy and our society.

While many factors contribute to a struggling education system — including an increasingly underfunded school system and frayed social safety net — we cannot ignore the economic pressures facing the adults whom children depend on every day. Good jobs that offer stability, fair pay and dignity are not just important for workers — they are essential for children’s success and for building a future where all kids can thrive.

Wages are obviously an important part of child well-being. Families with higher incomes are able to provide better nutrition, health care, safer housing and more access to enriching activities outside of the home and school. Children living in households below the poverty line, on the other hand, have worse cognitive development and educational outcomes. Lower socioeconomic status for children can also contribute to poorer long-term health outcomes too.

According to the Current Population Survey, over 10 million households with children have an income of less than $50,000 annually, with about 5 million making less than $30,000. Single mothers have a median income of just $40,000 and more than one in four live in poverty.

Unstable scheduling contributes to economic insecurity for many parents. Workers in the service sector — an industry disproportionately made up of women — are more likely to work on call, receive little advance notice of when they will work, or have last-minute changes to their schedules. Research from the SHIFT Project shows that these schedules are associated with economic insecurity, poorer maternal health and parents spending less time engaged in activities with their kids resulting in worse behavioral outcomes for the kids.

Workplace injuries or illnesses, all too common, can completely devastate households. Parents’ injuries at work lead to emotional and behavioral issues for their children. Workplace stress is associated with lower socioemotional development for children and a higher chance of anxiety.

Respect, voice, dignity and job satisfaction at work also have spillover effects for children. Mothers who have authority and discretion at work have kids who are healthier mentally. Children with parents who report high levels of job satisfaction and who experience work as a place for creativity, challenge and enjoyment are emotionally healthier.

The people we entrust to care for and educate our children also face jobs that undermine kids’ success. The median wage for child-care workers is just $14.30 an hour. Paraeducators and teaching assistants have a median annual salary of just above $35,000. And according to Rand, only a little more than a third of teachers say their pay is adequate while many will spend a part of their precious resources on school supplies for the kids they teach.

The lack of job quality for parents, caregivers and educators invites the question: How can we expect children to thrive and successfully carry our country forward when their parents and so many of the people around them work in jobs that perpetuate instability?

The challenges of job quality run deeper. We tell our kids you can be anything you want, hard work pays off, and education is the path to a good life. Many kids observe something quite different. They see their parents’ dreams deferred by discrimination or a lack of opportunity. They watch their parents work hard, only to struggle to earn enough to get by, and they see how important skills aren’t always the silver bullet to economic security. They see that what we often promise and deliver as a country are two different things.

We are unfortunately at a time when federal support for both education and the labor laws that support workers is declining. Yet, we know what to do. Businesses can do more to build better jobs while reaping the benefits that come from engaged employees that drive productivity and innovation. 

Decent wages, predictable schedules, benefits, opportunities for advancement, and healthy workplaces create healthy employees who can better support the children in their lives. Some companies are doing more. UPS has piloted child-care supports to boost retention.

But businesses can’t do it alone. Numerous state and local governments have passed minimum wage increases and laws mandating paid sick time to better support workers. Oregon has a statewide law to provide workers with more stable and predictable schedules. Maine provides monthly stipends to increase the pay of child-care workers. Several states are boosting teacher pay in efforts to retain teachers. Others such as Iowa have launched apprenticeship programs to help paraeducators “earn and learn” their way to becoming teachers.

Guaranteed income is another powerful and evidence-backed tool states and cities are adopting to boost parents’ ability to care for their children and address the lack of good-paying jobs in their labor market. Illinois recently doubled their state Child Tax Credit to $600 per month per child under 12 for qualifying families. 

And yet, there is much more to do to invest. The government can invest in care infrastructure and in supporting good jobs for the adults in kids’ lives. We can move away from important benefits being tied to our work and ensure more workers have access to critical needs such as health care and paid time off. We can pass labor laws that ensure work is safe and fairly compensated and that workers have a voice in shaping their work conditions. 

If we want our kids to believe who we say we are and realize their dreams, then supporting good jobs in the “village” we all know is needed to support them is more than essential — it’s necessary for the health and success of our country and society.

Matt Helmer is the director of job quality and worker well-being at the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program.