The nationwide redistricting battle is ongoing, with Democratic leaders at the federal level taking a page from President Donald Trump’s playbook and pressuring elected state officials to create Democrat-friendly congressional district maps. Here are the latest updates on where redistricting efforts and fallout stand.

Maryland

Earlier this month, Maryland’s Democrat-controlled House of Delegates approved new district maps that would likely strip the GOP of the sole congressional seat it holds in the Old Line State, Maryland’s first congressional district, currently held by Rep. Andy Harris (R). The measure has been expected to face difficulty in the Maryland Senate, where Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) has voiced opposition to the measure, warning that it may backfire against Democrats if the Maryland Supreme Court decides to review the maps. However, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has publicly weighed in on Ferguson’s effort to stall the redistricting.

“I’m not convinced that he’s going to be successful,” Jeffries said in a CNN interview this week. “I’m very thankful to the Maryland House of Delegates who decisively passed this legislation, which, by the way, is going to give voters the opportunity in Maryland to make a decision about the future of this matter,” he continued. Jeffries praised Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) for pushing the Democrat-favoring maps through the House of Delegates, characterizing Moore’s leadership as “incredibly strong, resilient, patriotic, and visionary.”

Ferguson, however, has remained steadfast in his opposition to the new district maps. “The Maryland state constitution hasn’t changed, and that’s the basis really for the entire decision is that if we were to move forward, it backfires,” the Maryland Senate president cautioned in a recent Baltimore-area radio interview. “Each further legislative step weakens our current map,” he emphasized.

Maryland’s current congressional district maps, which give Democrats seven of the state’s eight congressional seats, has never been judged by the state’s Supreme Court. Since registered Republicans account for roughly one quarter of Maryland voters, while registered Democrats make up a little over half, Ferguson has warned that creating new partisan maps would almost certainly trigger a legal challenge from Republicans, which would eventually make its way to the Maryland Supreme Court, where five of the court’s seven justices were appointed by former Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican. Ferguson also dismissed political blowback against his effort to thwart the congressional maps. “It is what it is either way,” he said. “I feel confident with the work that I’ve been able to do. I’m very proud of the record that I’ve been able to stand on and build.”

Moore has also called on Ferguson to bring the new congressional maps before the Maryland Senate for a vote. “I know there is disagreement right now between the House and members of the Senate,” he said in a press conference last week. “My ask is simple: Do not let the democratic process die in the Free State. Debate it, discuss it, make adjustments if necessary, and put it to a vote.”

Colorado

When Trump last year urged red states to redistrict to bolster the GOP’s narrow majority in the House, Democrats threatened to retaliate in kind. Once Texas forged ahead with redistricting, blue states made good on their promise. Colorado is the latest blue state to set its sights on creating more Democrat-held districts. According to Axios Denver, a pro-Democrat political action committee is pushing to reverse a constitutional amendment that Centennial State voters approved less than a decade ago, establishing an independent bipartisan body to draw congressional maps.

The PAC, Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, has filed four possible ballot initiatives, with the intention of putting one before voters this year. Each proposal would create new congressional district maps for 2028 and 2030, overriding the independent redistricting commission approved by voters in 2018, but nominally handing power back to the commission following the 2030 census. If approved, the proposals are expected to flip three Republican-held House seats blue.

“No one wanted to have to take this action — independent redistricting is the ideal,” Curtis Hubbard, a spokesman for Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, told the Colorado Sun. “But with Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans actively working to rig Congressional elections, resulting in the potential gain of up to 27 seats in Congress, Colorado must join other states in countering this unprecedented power grab,” he continued. “We can sit back and do nothing, or we can take action to approve temporary maps that will help keep our elections on a level playing field.”

Utah

Currently, all four of the Beehive State’s congressional seats are held by Republicans, but a court-ordered congressional map set to take effect next year would likely put one of those seats in Democrats’ hands. Utah’s Republican Party, however, has announced that it has gained the necessary amount of signatures to reverse the court-ordered map by undoing a state law against “gerrymandering.” Utah GOP Chairman Robert Axson reported that “well over” 200,000 signatures were gathered in support of the ballot proposal, more than the roughly 140,000 needed to put a proposal on the ballot to reverse a prior law. As of Tuesday, the lieutenant governor’s office has verified nearly 95,000 signatures.

Trump previously bashed the court-order congressional map as “absolutely Unconstitutional” and has supported the state GOP’s efforts to ensure that the congressional seat remains in Republican hands. “All Citizens of Utah should be outraged at their activist Judiciary, which wants to take away our Congressional advantage, and will do everything possible to do so,” the president said in a Truth Social post last year, in response to the court ruling. “This incredible State sent four great Republicans to Congress, and we want to keep it that way. The Utah GOP has to STAY UNITED, and make sure their four terrific Republican Congressmen stay right where they are!”

Indiana

Hoosier State Republicans inspired Trump’s ire late last year when Indiana Senate Republicans sided with Democrats against a redistricting measure that would have taken two U.S. House seats from Democrats and handed them to the GOP. Now, political action committees are preparing to primary Republicans who refused to back the measure.

The No Quarter PAC filed its statement of organization with the Indiana Election Division this week in a bid to primary Republican state senators who voted with Democrats on the crucial issue. “Indiana should be 9-0 Republican in Congress. It’s 7-2 because twenty-one state senators blocked the map Pres. Trump asked for. Eight of them are up for primary in 2026,” the PAC’s website says. “We are done with Republicans who run as America First and govern as globalists, undermining President Trump’s agenda.”

No Quarter is primarying Indiana state senators Dan Dernulc, Rick Niemeyer, Linda Rogers, Travis Holdman, Jim Buck, Spencer Deery, Greg Goode, and Greg Walker. According to the PAC, only $1.5 million is needed to primary all eight of the Republicans who voted against the redistricting measure.

A similar organization, Fair Maps Indiana Action, was launched in December, prior to the Indiana Senate’s vote. The group pledged to support state senators who backed the maps and to target those who did not. “For those that vote yes, we will be there to support their campaigns. For those that vote no, we will ensure that they will have a quality, well-funded opponent and those members are defeated in May,” Fair Maps Indiana said in a press release last year.

Virginia

Old Dominion’s Supreme Court recently allowed Virginia’s Democrat-controlled General Assembly to forge ahead with a redistricting referendum intended to strip Republicans of four of the five U.S. House seats they hold representing the state. While the court may technically rule that the Democrat-led redistricting effort is illegal, the referendum will still be conducted in April, and Democrats have already begun sinking millions of dollars into mobilizing voters.

According to a report from Cardinal News, Democrat-aligned dark money groups have already invested $5 million in ad campaigns in support of the Democrat-drawn congressional maps. Nearly $3 million has already been spent on an ad buy across the state’s six largest television markets. A bipartisan group, No Gerrymandering Virginia, has stepped up to counter the push for partisan redistricting, but has yet to match the pro-Democrat side’s war chest. “I don’t have anyone in DC offering me $5 million to gaslight Virginia voters like the other side does,” said Democrat Brian Canon, former executive director of the bipartisan OneVirginia 2021. Canon has long been a proponent of fair congressional district maps and has worked with both Democrats and Republicans in the past to ensure that Virginia’s congressional delegation accurately represents the state’s voters.

The first pro-redistricting ad to drop in Virginia accuses Trump and Republicans of attempting to “rig the midterms.” The maps proposed by Democrats would leave only one slot in Virginia’s congressional delegation open to Republicans, handing the other 10 to other Democrats. The referendum will take place on April 21.

So What?

In comments to The Washington Stand, FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter discussed the stakes of the redistricting conflict. “With President Trump and Minority Leader Jeffries publicly entering the debate to pressure lawmakers to draw districts favorable to their respective parties, it’s clear both parties view maximizing their share of the congressional delegations from states their parties control as essential for 2026 and beyond,” he opined. “While we await to see what various state courts and the Supreme Court have to say on a variety of legal questions at the heart of redistricting, it’s clear voters will have the final say.”

Carpenter continued, “Will they vote out members of their state legislature who refused the opportunity to draw new maps, like in Indiana or perhaps Maryland? Or will they support ballot measures to repeal or temporarily circumvent their state constitution’s independent redistricting commission, like in Utah and Colorado?”

“I had thought for a while that the courts would ultimately have the final say, but it’s becoming obvious that the voters are the ones who will actually have the final word — exactly as it should be,” Carpenter contended. “With the parties battling so fiercely over redistricting, this year it’s vital that Christians educate themselves to go to the polls and vote according to biblical values.”