Midterm results show gerrymandered districts lost to Democrats

Democratic candidates claimed victory in several congressional districts that Republicans redrew to favor their party.

President Trump urged his party to undertake mid-decade redistricting last year in anticipation of losses in the 2026 midterms. As of Tuesday night, many of those strategic map changes failed to secure Republican victories.

In Florida, three Democratic candidates won in redrawn districts. Kathy Castor, Pia Dandiya, and Jared Moskowitz all secured their seats despite the altered boundaries.

Democratic Rep. Don Davis retained his seat in North Carolina’s 1st District. Republicans in the state had redrew the district to make it more competitive for the GOP. The Downballot reported that Trump would have won the new 1st District by nearly 12 percentage points.

Shomari Figures, a Democrat, held on to Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. This district was redrawn after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act earlier this year. Trump would have won that specific seat by an even larger margin than in North Carolina.

Texas was the first state to redraw its maps at Trump’s urging. Republicans expected the coalition of voters Trump won in 2024 to support their party this cycle, specifically banking on gains with Latino voters in the new maps. However, many of those voters shifted their support to Democrats in this election.