The Brief

President Donald Trump sparked a national sprint to redistrict when he asked Texas Republicans to draw five more congressional seats for the GOP in their state ahead of next year's elections.
In response, Democratic and Republican leaders in at least seven other states have said they're open to moving their political lines in the fight over the U.S. House, but that means very different things in different places.

States are often bound by constitutional language and laws that dictate how redistricting happens. And time is running out for maps to be set ahead of the 2026 midterms.
To see how likely redistricting is before then, we asked reporters in the NPR Network to explain what's going on in their states.

More in California:

• California's proposed redistricting map heads to state legislature for a decision. What does that mean for SoCal?
• Find out if your vote could be affected by Newsom’s redistricting plans

Texas

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Blaise Gainey, The Texas Newsroom

Redistricting in Texas, the center of the fight, is far from over. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to pass a new congressional map ahead of the midterms at Trump's request. To stall that process, most House Democrats broke quorum by leaving the state and spreading out around the country. At some point, their return, and a vote on the map, is inevitable.

"When we first started this journey, we talked about the fact that eventually they still might pass these maps. But we're going to do everything we can to wake up America," said House Democratic Caucus chair Rep. Gene Wu this week.
While it's unclear when Democrats will return, Texas Republicans plan to end the current special session Friday and immediately begin a new one. Democrats are demanding the focus be on Hill Country Flood victims before lawmakers turn to the the political map, but Abbott already has said the agenda for the upcoming session will begin with redistricting.

Abbott responded to those demands on social media, calling it embarrassing and telling Democrats to "come back and fight like Texans."

California

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Guy Marzorati, KQED
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is charging ahead with a plan to bring the redistricting fight directly to voters in a special election Nov. 4.

Newsom, with the support of Democrats in the state legislature, is looking to redraw California's congressional maps to help Democrats pick up five additional U.S. House seats. Californians handed line-drawing power to an independent commission more than a decade ago, so Newsom's plan can only move forward with voter approval.

The state legislature reconvenes Aug. 18, and lawmakers will have until Aug. 22 to place a redistricting measure on the ballot. The map that will go before voters is expected to be released later this week. Newsom said the new lines would only take effect if other Republican states continued with their gerrymandering efforts.

"It wasn't our decision to be here," Newsom said Friday. "We are trying to defend democracy as opposed to see it destroyed district by district."
Republicans, pro-democracy, and good government advocacy groups oppose Newsom's redistricting gambit. Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who helped spearhead the move toward independent redistricting, is also opposed, spokesperson Daniel Ketchall told NPR.

Missouri

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Jason Rosenbaum, St. Louis Public Radio
In Missouri, lawmakers could go back this fall to carve up Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-based district. Contrary to some assumptions, Republicans have the ability to transform Cleaver's district into a solid Republican seat. Unlike the 1st Congressional District, it's not protected under the Voting Rights Act because it doesn't have a majority population of color.

Missouri Republicans have been upfront about their motivations: They want to prevent Democrats from taking over the U.S. House.

"The work that President Trump has done has turned our country back from the edge of the cliff that the Biden administration was driving us over," Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O'Laughlin, a Republican, wrote on Facebook.
But it's an open question whether any map would stand up to judicial scrutiny.

"The constitution requires that it be done after the decennial census, and it doesn't address whether it can be done at another time," says Jim Layton, a former Missouri solicitor general who defended the state's congressional maps in court back in the 2010s. "I would expect that someone would challenge the map, saying that under our constitution, there's only one chance after each census to create a new map."

Ohio

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Sarah Donaldson, Ohio Statehouse News Bureau
Ohio is the only state due for a mid-decade redraw of its congressional lines. That's because 2018 reforms require both parties to agree on the map, which they didn't do last redistricting cycle. That's why national Republicans are eyeing Ohio for gains of two to three seats.

Among the districts to watch are Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Emilia Sykes, both of whom were already national targets because of narrow 2024 margins. Kaptur won by less than 1% in 2024. To get another possible win, Republicans would have to draw the city of Cincinnati into a red district, which is a heavier lift.
The Ohio Constitution says a 60% majority of the legislature must pass its redistricting plan by the end of September. If they can't come to a consensus, the Ohio Redistricting Commission takes over.

"It's just a question of whether the parties can pass something in a bipartisan fashion," House Speaker Matt Huffman said in June.

The commission, which would include seven politicians and skew heavily Republican, faces a final deadline in November. The state's highest court rejected its maps more than once in 2021. Right now, Ohio has 10 GOP and five Democratic seats in Congress.

New York

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Jimmy Vielkind, WNYC
The New York state Constitution prohibits gerrymandering and specifies that redistricting takes place once a decade, after the release of the U.S. census. Someone would have to successfully sue to invalidate the current map to begin the process sooner, according to state Sen. Michael Gianaris.

So instead, the Democrat from Queens has introduced a resolution to amend the state constitution. Constitutional amendments need to be passed by two successively elected crops of state lawmakers, then approved by voters. That process couldn't be completed until 2027 at the earliest, but Gianaris says it's still worth doing.

"I don't think this is a one-off, that Texas is doing this now and we won't hear about it again," he says. "I think it would make sense for New York to change our process so we can be players."

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is exploring all her options. The Democratic governor says she wants to abolish the state's Independent Redistricting Commission and give more control to Democratic leaders.

There are 19 Democrats and seven Republicans in the state's U.S. House delegation. The congressional map was drawn by a court-appointed special master after Republicans sued to throw out a Democrat-drawn map.

Illinois

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Alex Degman, WBEZ
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker continues to leave the door open to redistricting the state's congressional map as he hosts more than two dozen Texas House Democrats in suburban Chicago.

"Sure, we could redistrict. It's possible," he said Monday. But finding another Democratic seat in Illinois is a tall order.
Illinois lost a congressional seat after the 2020 census due to population decline. Democrats drew the map to edge out two Republicans and form a new Democratic-leaning district. The state's congressional delegation has 14 Democrats and 3 Republicans. The three GOP districts are heavily Republican — two of them voted for Trump by more than 40 points in the 2024 election.

Political challenges aside, congressional candidates have until Nov. 3 to file to run in their districts, so a new map would need to be approved before then.

Illinois state lawmakers don't seem on board yet — leaders in both the Illinois House and Senate say there are no current discussions about redistricting.

House Republican Leader Tony McCombie doesn't think Pritzker has the political power to force it, noting Democratic supermajorities have already stymied a couple of his legislative priorities.

"If [Illinois House] Speaker [Emanuel Chris] Welch wants to do it, then it will be done," she says.

Indiana

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Brandon Smith, Indiana Public Broadcasting
Vice President J.D. Vance came to Indianapolis last week to meet with Republican Gov. Mike Braun and Republican state legislative leaders to discuss redrawing Indiana's congressional district lines to benefit Republicans.

Braun said he and state legislative leaders "listened" but wouldn't say more than that.
Article 4, Section 5, of the Indiana Constitution limits redistricting of Indiana's maps for the state legislature to the year or two after the decennial census.

But it is state law that limits redrawing Indiana's congressional district lines to the first regular legislative session after the census, though the Republican supermajority could more easily change that than the state constitution.
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, a Democrat and one of the legislators who could lose a seat, called on state GOP leaders not to "bend a knee."
"And no matter what district they put me in, I will fight for working-class people," Mrvan said.

Florida

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Regan McCarthy, WFSU
In Florida, state House Speaker Daniel Perez is forming a select committee on redistricting. The group will focus on questions surrounding the so-called Fair Districts Amendments in the state constitution.

The amendments, passed in 2010, prohibit political gerrymandering and specify that a district cannot be drawn to deny minorities the ability to "elect representatives of their choice." That played a central role in a lawsuit against the state's congressional map passed in 2022.
That map, pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, split up a North Florida district held by a Black Democrat. Under the new map, Republicans were successful in winning the seat. Last month, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the political boundaries and found that the old district likely constituted race-based gerrymandering, violating federal equal rights protections. The ruling has led to questions about the future enforceability of the amendments — something Perez says the committee will look into.

DeSantis told reporters he thinks other parts of the current congressional map could have similar racial gerrymandering issues.
Meanwhile, Democrats are decrying the effort. Democratic state Rep. Michele Rayner said in a statement she thinks, "The speaker and our legislative leadership are playing a dangerous game with our democracy."
This story was edited by Acacia Squires, senior editor on the NPR States Team.
Copyright 2025 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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J.W. Hendricks

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.