Trump Says GOP Can Get Five More House Seats Redistricting Just One State

President Donald Trump is pushing a handful of states to redraw their congressional maps to give more seats to Republicans in the U.S. House.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that there are five states where Republicans could gain seats through a redrawing of their respective congressional maps. He only named one, however: Texas, where the president said that Republicans could pick up five seats.

“Just a very simple redrawing, we pick up five seats. We have a couple of other states where we’ll pick up seats also,” Trump told reporters earlier Tuesday.

Later, Trump expanded his state count to five, saying that three states could give Republicans one seat each and a fourth could give Republicans two to three next Congress.

“There’s about four [states other than Texas]. I’ll let you figure that one out, but we have about four of them. In three cases it’s one [seat], and in one case it’s two or three,” Trump told reporters. “And Texas would be 5.”

The president said that in a case where California redistricted to create more Democratic-leaning districts, his administration would sue.

“We’ll fight them. You know, they’re so corrupt in California,” the president said when asked about California’s potential to redistrict. “You never know what’s going to happen, but we’ve done pretty well in the courts in California, as you see. We’re batting about 1,000, ultimately. We start off a little slow, and then we get a lot of hits.”

Trump and the Department of Justice have reportedly pushed Texas Governor Greg Abbott to lead redistricting in the Lone Star State to help Republicans maintain control of the House after the 2026 midterm elections. Abbott has instructed the state legislature to redraw the congressional map during a summer session.

Texas currently has 38 House seats. Twenty-five of those are currently held by Republicans. While redistricting could make some Democrat-held seats more favorable to Republicans, it could also make some GOP-held seats more competitive.

One of the other states that the White House is targeting to strengthen Republicans’ hand going into 2026 could be Ohio, which is required by law to redistrict ahead of the coming midterm elections.

National Democratic leaders are pushing Texas Democrats to stage a walkout to deny the legislature from passing a redistricted map that could create more favorable conditions for the GOP. In order for the Texas House to pass legislation, at least 100 members of the 150-member body must be present. Democrats could thwart Republicans if 51 of their 62-member coalition walked out.