Texas Republicans' mid-decade redraw of the state's congressional map, pushed by President Donald Trump, collapsed in Tuesday's midterms. GOP candidates captured just one of the five Democratic seats the new lines were built to flip, and they surrendered two districts they already held.
The state's House delegation will split 24-14 when the new Congress convenes in January, far from the 30-8 edge Republicans envisioned. That leaves the party with one fewer Texas seat than it had at the start of the current Congress.
The 2025 map reworked five Democratic districts so that Trump would have carried each by at least 10 points. Latino Texans were a majority of eligible voters in four of those five targets, and the plan depended on Republicans keeping Trump's 2024 gains with them. Instead, a leftward swing among Latino voters helped power a Democratic wave across much of the country.
Two Democratic incumbents from the border region, Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, each kept their seats even after the redraw added Trump supporters to their districts.
Republicans also gave up the only Rio Grande Valley seat they held before the redraw. Bobby Pulido, a Tejano musician, unseated two-term Rep. Monica De La Cruz.
In the sprawling 23rd District, which stretches from San Antonio toward El Paso and leans 15 points toward Trump, Democrat Katy Padilla Stout beat Brandon Herrera, a YouTuber and gun-rights activist. Padilla Stout is a San Antonio attorney and former teacher. The seat has sat empty since Republican Tony Gonzales resigned in April over a sex scandal involving a staffer.
Monica De La Cruz's brother fell short too. Bexar County sheriff's deputy Johnny Garcia defeated Republican Carlos De La Cruz in the newly drawn 35th District, a seat Trump won by 10 points.
In Houston, Democrat Leticia Gutierrez ran a grassroots campaign and won a district Trump took by 20 points two years ago. Federal Election Commission filings show she raised only a fraction of the $2.8 million collected by her opponent, Army veteran and former investment banker Alex Mealer, as of mid-October.
The White House had counted on the Texas map to shield a slim Republican House majority. It did not: Democrats won control of the House and are positioned for a substantial majority, and they also took the Senate, leaving Trump to face a fully Democratic Congress for his final two years.
Texas set off a round of retaliatory redistricting nationwide. Republicans redrew four Democratic seats in Florida, but three stayed Democratic and the fourth was within a point. In California, Democrats answered with their own map and had flipped three of five targeted seats while leading in the other two.
Texas Democrats had fought the map by leaving the state, temporarily denying Republicans the members needed to pass it and leaving the plan in limbo.
