A Trump-led push to redraw congressional maps faces obstacles in southern states | US midterm elections 2026 News

Conservative groups across the country have rushed to draw new district maps to bolster their midterm election hopes.

President Donald Trump’s push to redraw US state maps to boost the Republican Party ahead of the election. midterm elections has faced major obstacles in the southern states of Alabama and South Carolina.

A three-judge panel barred Republicans from entering Alabama away from progressives and a new map that would eliminate one of the state’s two black-majority districts.

“Ultimately, we cannot see our way of needing Alabamians to cast their ballots in the 2026 election under a districting system that is intentionally discriminatory,” the group wrote.

Republican leaders in Alabama, who have already postponed the four-seat general election to draw new maps, said they will appeal Tuesday’s decision to the US Supreme Court.

Several South Carolina Republican lawmakers have separately joined with Democrats to drop a new map that would redraw the district held by Congressman James Clyburn, a black Democrat who has held office for more than 30 years.

Early voting in the June 9 primary was already underway as state lawmakers voted on the new map Tuesday.

“My conscience or my common sense will not allow me to stop an election that is already underway,” local media quoted Republican state Senator Richard Cash as saying.

The design of the congressional district map is a a difficult matter in the United States, where it has historically been a key tool in trying to suppress black voters in states with a history of segregation.

Republicans have pushed for years to repeal laws enacted to protect this, an effort that has recently been boosted by Supreme Court decision.

The decision, hailed by Trump as a “huge victory”, led several Republican-led states to redraw their maps in time for the upcoming midterm elections, where the party hopes to protect its leaders in the House and Senate as Trump struggles with low popularity.

States in the US are responsible for drawing House districts and organizing elections.

For years, both parties have pushed electoral maps that favor their candidates — a process known as gerrymandering.

But Trump has taken the practice to a new level, publicly demanding that the state parties redraw their maps to help Republicans control the House.

Democrats responded with similar initiatives in states they controlled, including Californiawhere voters approved a map that would give three to five seats to the Democratic Party.

But the democratization effort has also had its share of problems. Virginia democratic map he was knocked down and the district court earlier this month.

Some analysts have said that such efforts by both groups could reduce the credibility of elections, but Democrats have framed their efforts as the opposite of what Republicans have done.