Trump’s desperate gerrymandering scheme backfires in Texas and Florida as voters sour on GOP
Por Jesse Bedayn and Bill Barrow — – World RSS Feed
Trump’s desperate gerrymandering scheme backfires in Texas and Florida as voters sour on GOP
Republicans hoped to pick up as many as nine seats between Texas and Florida
Jesse Bedayn & Bill Barrow Wednesday 30 September 2026 10:56 BST
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Former federal prosecutor and Army National Guard infantry captain Eric Flores was considered a top recruit for the Republican Party in this year’s midterm elections. A newly redrawn Texas congressional map appeared to give him a clear shot at unseating longtime Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in a district that backed Donald Trump during the last presidential election.
However, Flores is now entangled in a far tougher contest than expected. Republican-led state legislatures followed Trump’s call to undertake an unusual redistricting push to preserve their majority in the U.S. House, but the strategy is facing headwinds.
The GOP aimed to gain as many as nine congressional seats across Texas and Florida. Yet despite redrawing boundary lines to favor their candidates, the party is struggling under voter dissatisfaction over the economy, tariffs, the president’s deportation agenda, and the conflict with Iran.
open image in galleryThe high-stakes nature of these contests has prompted Vice President JD Vance to head to Texas on Wednesday to campaign alongside Flores, before heading to Florida on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the House Democrats’ national campaign arm, recently toured Florida congressional districts targeted by Republicans.
“Republicans arrogantly thought they were going to redistrict seats to pick up more,” DelBene said in an interview during her trip. “Instead, what they have is people across the state souring on the Republican agenda.”
In response, House Republicans’ campaign spokesman Mike Marinella insisted the GOP can still achieve success this cycle “with a more favorable map, historic fundraising and spending advantages, stronger candidates and a common-sense agenda.”
open image in galleryWhen Donald Trump returned to power two years ago, Republicans secured 25 of Texas’ 38 seats in the U.S. House.
Central to that ambition was the Rio Grande Valley, a predominantly Latino area at the southern tip of Texas that has trended toward Trump in recent cycles.
Texas’ 34th Congressional District, where Flores is competing, encompasses portions of the valley and supported Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris by 10 percentage points. Even so, Flores anticipates a tight contest, pointing to his opponent’s five terms of incumbency.
Flores earned Trump’s endorsement—which remains pinned at the top of his X profile—and delivered a speech at Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas. However, in an effort to appeal to broader general election voters, he quietly removed a pledge to “SUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AGENDA” from his campaign website.
“If I tell them the red meat issues or I tell them, you know, oh, Republican, Democrat, or anything like that, you lose them,” Flores told The Associated Press. “I just sell them myself, sell them what I stand for.”
open image in galleryGOP strategists in Washington acknowledge that economic pressures, including inflation and Trump’s tariffs, alongside the military involvement in Iran, have complicated their electoral strategy. Additionally, frustration among Latino voters over the president’s deportation agenda has unsettled GOP projections.
The party also faces vulnerability regarding its own incumbents in reconfigured territories. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, seeking a third term, is locked in a competitive battle against musician Bobby Pulido. A Latin Grammy winner whose most popular track has racked up 619 million streams on Spotify, Pulido has a level of name recognition rarely enjoyed by first-time challengers.
“I want a picture!” 42-year-old Eloise Ibarra shouted as Pulido navigated the stands at a high school football game. Ibarra indicated she would “probably” cast her ballot for Pulido after opting not to participate in the previous presidential contest.
“I don’t really like his policies,” she remarked regarding Trump. “It’s very expensive, I go to the grocery store and buy $50 worth of stuff and it’s like five items.”
Democratic organizers contend that the GOP overplayed its hand in redrawing the lines.
“I think Republicans counted on Hispanics, and they counted on rural Texas, to deliver votes for them, and these are the two places that are hurting the most,” said Terri Burke of the Texas Democratic Party. Addressing the redistricting effort, she added, “this is really no longer such a slam dunk for the Republicans anywhere.”
open image in galleryIn Florida, where Republicans currently hold 20 of 28 congressional seats, party leaders sought to increase their tally to 24 through redrawn boundaries. Similar to Texas, those boundary changes relied heavily on 2024 results, when voters—particularly within Latino communities—expressed discontent with Democratic President Joe Biden over economic conditions and border security.
The GOP map sought to squeeze Rep. Kathy Castor in the Tampa area and Rep. Darren Soto near Orlando, while forcing South Florida Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz into the same district.
Rather than face a primary against a colleague, Moskowitz relocated his candidacy to an adjacent, Republican-leaning district, while Wasserman Schultz opted to run in a separate, strongly Democratic seat. Though Castor and Soto face tougher paths in their newly configured territories, DelBene maintains that both candidates can win under current conditions.
The redrawn map did not deter Pia Dandiya, an Ivy League-educated school principal and daughter of Indian immigrants, from launching her initial bid for Congress.
Dandiya is contesting Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, a seat Trump carried by double digits in 2024 and where Republicans originally anticipated a primary clash between Moskowitz and Wasserman Schultz.
However, Dandiya points out that Biden won the same set of precincts against Trump in 2020. Describing herself as “a happy road warrior,” she frequently logs more than 150 miles between campaign stops.
“The way this district has been drawn just shows yet again that we are living in a world where elected officials are choosing voters instead of voters choosing elected officials, and it should never be that way,” Dandiya said. DelBene and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have designated her campaign a priority as part of their “Red to Blue” initiative.
Dandiya maintains that voters are focusing on current economic realities rather than past party lines.
“Cost of living is not an issue that is exclusively impacting Democrats. It is an issue that is ubiquitous,” she noted, adding that these financial concerns resonate across the more conservative pockets of her district as well.
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Donald TrumpRepublicansmidtermsJD VanceIranKamala HarrisRio Grande ValleyTexasFloridaJoe BidenDebbie Wasserman Schultz
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