Commentary: With midterm vote starting, here's where things stand in national redistricting fight

"With control of the House - and Trump's virtually unchecked authority - dangling by a gossamer thread, he reckoned correctly that Republicans were all but certain to lose power this fall unless something unusual happened. So he effectively broke the rules. Normally, the redrawing of the country's congressional districts takes place once every 10 years, following the census and accounting for population changes over the previous decade."

"Trump prevailed upon the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, to throw out the state's political map and refashion congressional lines to wipe out Democrats and boost GOP chances of winning as many as five additional House seats. The intention was to create a bit of breathing room, as Democrats need a gain of just three seats to seize control of the House."

"In relatively short order, California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, responded with his own partisan gerrymander. He rallied voters to pass a tit-for-tat ballot measure, Proposition 50, which revised the state's political map to wipe out Republicans and boost Democratic prospects of winning as many as five additional seats."

Trump pressured Texas Governor Greg Abbott to redraw congressional districts outside the normal 10-year census cycle to eliminate Democratic seats and gain Republican advantages. This unprecedented partisan move aimed to offset typical midterm losses for the party in power. California Governor Gavin Newsom responded with Proposition 50, a retaliatory gerrymander designed to wipe out Republican seats and boost Democratic gains. This tit-for-tat escalation triggered a cascade of partisan redistricting battles across more than a dozen states, fundamentally altering the political landscape and threatening Republican House control.

Read at Los Angeles Times