Battleground GOP lawmaker moves to block what he calls Democratic redistricting 'power grab'
FIRST ON FOX: A battleground district House Republican is wading into the redistricting war that has seized the U.S. with his own new proposal to crack down on "partisan gamesmanship."Rep....
By Fox News · Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: A battleground district House Republican is wading into the redistricting war that has seized the U.S. with his own new proposal to crack down on "partisan gamesmanship." Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., has introduced a bill called the Fair Apportionment and Independent Redistricting for Maps that Avoid Partisanship (FAIR MAP) Act, which would impose new guardrails on the process of changing congressional districts across all 50 states. The bill would bar states from drawing districts for or against a specific political party or candidate and ban the creation of new congressional maps more than once a decade following the U.S. census. It comes as election watchers eye Virginia and Maryland as the latest states whose Democrat-led legislatures could move to redraw their congressional boundaries ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. REDISTRICTING BATTLES BREWING ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS PARTIES COMPETE FOR POWER AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS Earlier this month, a state Supreme Court judge in Lawler's own home turf of New York ruled that New York City's lone Republican-held district is unconstitutional and must be redrawn — handing potentially a consequential win to Democrats. Lawler said of Democrats' push in his state, "[Gov. Kathy Hochul ] and [House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’] scheme to redraw New York’s congressional districts months before an election is a blatant power grab and misuse of public office." The growing redistricting war was kicked off last year when Texas' GOP-led legislature approved a new congressional map that could give Republicans as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives come the November elections. Redistricting normally occurs every 10 years after the U.S. census is taken to ensure that seats in the House are reflective of each state's population. And while there's a patchwork of state laws aimed at blocking those districts from being redrawn along partisan lines, there is no current federal standard. In addition to bannin…