A federal court in Texas on Tuesday blocked Texas from using a new congressional map intended to flip several Democratic-held U.S. House of Representatives seats to Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, faulting Governor Greg Abbott for directing the legislature to draw it based on race.

The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel dealt a major blow to Texas Republicans who had been urged by President Donald Trump to redraw the boundaries of the state's congressional districts to maximize the number of Republicans who could be elected in order to protect his party's narrow U.S. House majority.

The move by Texas to create a new map, which could flip as many as five Democratic-held seats to Republicans, set off a nationwide partisan redistricting battle, playing out in both Republican-gover

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