US President Donald Trump celebrated the passage of a controversial redistricting bill in the Texas House, declaring it a “big win” that could hand Republicans five additional congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.“Everything Passed, on our way to five more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself. Texas never lets us down,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday night. He added that other Republican-led states, including Florida and Indiana, were “looking to do the same thing.”The Texas House approved the new electoral map in an 88-52 party-line vote after weeks of Democratic walkouts aimed at delaying the measure. As per news agency AFP, the plan redraws five districts to favour Republicans and must still clear the state Senate and receive governor Greg Abbott’s signature before becoming law.Trump linked the redistricting victory to his broader demands for voting restrictions, again calling for the abolition of mail-in ballots. “Stop Mail-In Voting”, a total fraud that has no bounds,” he wrote, before urging states to return to paper ballots “at one tenth the cost, faster, and more reliable.” In a follow-up post, he added: “End Mail-In Voting, and go to paper Ballots. 100 additional seats will go to Republicans!!!”The US president has long railed against postal voting, despite having cast mail ballots himself in past elections. According to AFP, more than 30 per cent of ballots in 2024 were submitted by mail. There is no evidence that the method is more prone to fraud, but Trump has repeatedly insisted it undermines election integrity.Democrats in Texas have described the redistricting effort as a violation of voting rights. Representative Chris Turner was quoted by the Texas Tribune as saying that the bill “flips democracy on its head and lets politicians choose their voters.” Fellow Democrat John H. Bucy said the measure amounted to “Donald Trump’s map,” designed to deliberately manufacture five new Republican seats.Republicans defended the changes as a legitimate exercise of political power. State Representative Todd Hunter, who sponsored the bill, said its goal was simply to “improve Republican political performance,” as per news agency AP.The Texas move has already prompted retaliation elsewhere. Lawmakers in California introduced proposals this week to redraw their state’s congressional lines in favour of Democrats, with governor Gavin Newsom vowing to “fight fire with fire.”
