One of the biggest stories of the 2026 midterms came before any votes were cast: the mid-decade redistricting wars. Fearing a backlash to President Trump’s policies at the ballot box, Republicans in several states moved to redraw their congressional maps to shore up their House seats and minimize potential losses. Democrats sought to counter those efforts but ultimately managed just one deliberate redraw of their own in California ahead of Election Day.

After a sweeping victory for Democrats with dozens of gains in the House on Tuesday, how did redistricting efforts hold up around the country? According to projections from Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), Republicans picked up just two of the 15 seats they targeted through redistricting. In some cases, the new maps backfired, putting previously safe GOP incumbents at risk. Here is a review of how the parties’ redrawn maps held up with voters.

Texas was the first state to redraw its lines in 2025, with Republicans aiming to flip at least five Democrat seats to Republican. But the GOP won just one of those redrawn seats, the 32nd Congressional District, where Republican Jace Yarbrough defeated Democrat Dan Barrios by nearly 3 points, according to DDHQ. Trump won the district by nearly 20 points in 2024. In the 9th Congressional District, which the president won by the same margin two years ago, Democrat Leticia Gutierrez handily defeated Republican Alex Mealer, DDHQ projected.

Gutierrez currently leads by 15 points with some votes still left to count. Republicans’ redistricting gamble in the Lone Star State hinged on Latino voters turning out for the GOP as they did for Trump in 2024. But that support failed to materialize, contributing to defeats for the party in three South Texas districts. Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar both easily held onto their seats in the Rio Grande Valley — the 34th and the 28th Congressional Districts, respectively — places which Trump won by more than 10 points each in the last election.

Democrat Johnny Garcia also held onto the 35th Congressional District, defeating Republican Carlos de la Cruz. De la Cruz’s sister, Rep. Monica de la Cruz (R), also went down to defeat Tuesday night in the 15th Congressional District, falling behind Democrat Bobby Pulido in a seat Republicans did not redraw. The GOP also lost the open 23rd Congressional District, where Democrat Katy Padilla Stout will succeed Rep. Tony Gonzales (R).

On the whole in Texas, Democrats actually left election night with a net gain of one seat, able to counter their redistricting loss with pickups elsewhere. Florida Republicans also redrew their map, looking to flip four Democratic-held seats. But, as of Wednesday afternoon, it appears they might fall short in all four. DDHQ projected that Rep. Kathy Castor (D) will hold Florida’s 14th Congressional District, defeating Republican Mike Beltran by more than five points.

Democrat Pia Dandiya secured a win in the 22nd Congressional District, defeating Republican Casey Askar by nearly four points. Plus, in the 25th Congressional District, Rep. Jared Moskowitz bested Republican Scott Singer by nearly five points. The final redrawn district with no winner projected is the 9th Congressional District, where Rep. Darren Soto leads Republican Dan Green by half a percentage point with nearly all of the vote counted.

Republicans in Ohio also adjusted their congressional lines, but it was not necessarily intentional — they were required by law to do so. In the process, they made Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s 9th Congressional District even more GOP-friendly than it already was and turned Rep. Greg Landsman’s 1st Congressional District into a Trump-won seat. Kaptur and Landsman both held on, leading their challengers by 5.5 and 11.5 points, respectively.

And it was Republicans in the Buckeye State who suffered losses — losing the 7th, 10th and 15th Congressional Districts, according to DDHQ projections.

North Carolina Republicans already had a very favorable map but went even further in an attempt to push out Rep. Don Davis (D) in the state's 1st Congressional District. Despite Trump winning the region by nearly 12 points in 2024, Davis held on by nearly three points. And while maps in other states did not necessarily “backfire” — Republicans still did as good or better under new maps than under old ones — the way lines were drawn in North Carolina nearly created a GOP wipeout Tuesday night.

According to DDHQ projections, Democrats flipped the 6th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 14th Congressional Districts in the Tar Heel State. They are also within two points of winning the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th and 10th Congressional Districts — all of which remain uncalled as of Wednesday afternoon. Among the defeated is Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of the House Republicans.

Hudson lost to Democrat Richard Ojeda by a two point margin. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais earlier this year, which weakened part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Republicans in Alabama and Louisiana redrew maps to each draw out one of their majority Black districts. In Alabama, Rep. Shomari Figures held on easily in the 2nd Congressional District, leading the GOP candidate by around 7.5 points.

In Louisiana, which held blanket primaries for its House races this year, Democrat Chauna Banks and Republican Blake Miguez will advance to the general election, each with about 19 percent of the vote. That election will be held Dec. 12. Voters in California approved Proposition 50 in 2025, allowing the state to update its congressional lines to give Democrats five seats in the House, designed as a direct counter to Texas. Unlike the Texas GOP, however, Democrats in the Golden State were victorious in all five of their redrawn districts, DDHQ projects.

In the 1st Congressional District, Democrat Mike McGuire ousted incumbent Rep. James Gallagher (R) by what is currently a 14-point margin. In the 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Ami Bera — who moved from the 6th Congressional District — defeated Republican Robb Tucker and currently leads by the same margin. In the 22nd Congressional District — a Trump-won district that Democrats aimed to make more favorable — Randy Villegas (D) unseated GOP Rep. David Valadao and leads by a 33-point margin as of Wednesday afternoon.

In the 41st Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Linda Sanchez — who currently represents the 39th Congressional District — defeated Republican Mitch Clemmons and led by nearly 30 points. Finally, in the 48th Congressional District, Democrat Marni von Wilpert notched a win against Republican Jim Desmond and leads by 19 points. New district lines in Utah were court-ordered by a judge who ruled that the current map — which split Salt Lake City into four Republican seats — was not permitted under the state’s anti-gerrymandering law.

The judge ordered a new seat to be drawn that Democrats could win, which they did. Former Rep. Ben McAdams, who represented the 1st Congressional District from 2019 to 2021, won the open seat, defeating Republican Riley Owen. He currently leads by 47 points.