WASHINGTON (TNND) — Some blue state Republicans are pushing back against Texas’ plans of redrawing its congressional maps to increase the party’s odds of retaining its majority in the midterm elections next year as Democratic-dominated states are threatening to return the favor by redrawing their own districts to squeeze out Republican seats.

Republicans Kevin Kiley of California and Mike Lawler of New York both said they are introducing bills putting federal limits on partisan gerrymandering as their seats are under threat in response to Texas’ proposed map that aims to give the GOP five more seats in 2026.

The bills come as Texas’ first draft of the map has set off a nationwide redistricting fight between red and blue states across the country as Democratic governor threaten to retaliate with their own gerrymanders. Kiley and Lawler could be victims of the push to gerrymander more states as both represent swing districts in heavily Democratic-leaning states.

“The courts and the voters should reject any effort to thwart the will of the voters and this cynical power grab,” Lawler wrote in a post on X. “Gerrymandering is wrong and should be banned everywhere — including in New York, Texas, California, and Illinois. I’m introducing legislation to ban it. I look forward to every single Democrat signing on to it.”

Kiley said he will introduce a bill nullifying new maps adopted before the 2030 census, which would include those drawn this year and stop Texas and potential retaliations.

“Gavin Newsom is trying to subvert the will of voters and do lasting damage to democracy in California,” Kiley said in a statement. “Fortunately, Congress has the ability to protect California voters using its authority under the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This will also stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country.”

Congressional maps are redrawn every 10 years after the census to distribute power equally based on population. In states where one party’s elected officials control the process, it is common for them to draw maps highly favorable to their own party and minimize chances of the opposition being able to flip seats.

It’s unlikely House leadership would put either bill up for a vote, and Republicans have historically been opposed to federal limits on how states draw congressional districts.

“It doesn't seem like Republicans have been willing to — overall, as a party — want to put any limits on gerrymandering at the federal level,” said Shawn Donahue, a clinical assistant professor of political science at the University at Buffalo who studies redistricting. “It's not something that Republicans seem to want to use federal control over elections for.”

Banning partisan gerrymandering has been a Democratic cause for years with several blue-leaning states, including California and New York, creating independent commissions to draw fair lines for redistricting. Democrats tried to enact a federal ban in Congress in 2021 in a provision for the party’s expansive For the People Act that would have required all states to create independent commissions with equal partisan representation but were blocked by a filibuster from Senate Republicans.

Despite the party’s history of supporting independent commissions, it’s unclear whether Democrats will back either bill install federal limits amid the nationwide brawl to redraw maps. Party leadership has shifted their tune to backing remaking maps in blue states to counter Texas by any means necessary.

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment, and all options should be on the table to protect the people of Texas,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said last week. “We will fight them politically. We will fight them governmentally. We will fight them in court. We will fight them in terms of winning the hearts and minds of the people of Texas and beyond.”

Democratic governors have been even more explicit, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom publicly musing about getting rid of the state’s redistricting commission and having its Democratic supermajority legislature redraw maps to knock out some of the nine California Republicans.

“They’re not screwing around. We cannot afford to screw around either. We have got to fight fire with fire,” Newsom said at a rally in Texas over the weekend.

Hosting Texas state Democrats who have fled the state to prevent Republicans from passing newly redrawn maps, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said “we are at war” and agreed that its independent commission should be disbanded or changed.

"If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us no choice; we must do the same," Hochul said. "There's a phrase, 'you have to fight fire with fire.' That is a true statement of how we're feeling right now. And as I've said, another overused but applicable phrase, 'all is fair in love and war'— that's why I'm exploring with our leaders every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible."

The two biggest Democratic bastions of California and New York are weighing whether to try to redraw their maps but are also likely to run into multiple obstacles in doing so and may be unable to finalize them in time for 2026. Both states have independent commissions that would need to be disbanded or modified to allow for partisan redistricting processes.

There are also a limited number of blue-leaning states with trifectas of state government control with congressional maps that can be drawn more favorably for the Democrats, adding another risk for the party as it tries to combat Texas’ push.

“How many other states with Democratic governors and legislatures can do that versus Republicans? (Republicans) have a lot of states that could that really have no constraints on them. It's one of those things where if you're doing tit-for-tat, one side can respond here, but then there's a lot of other responses that the Republicans can do. The Democrats really don't necessarily have the ability to counter — at least in 2026,” Donahue said.