FACTBOX-Redistricting battles could tip control of US House in November elections

ALABAMA: DEMOCRATS WILL LIKELY GAIN ONE SEAT In October, a federal court approved a new congressional map adding a second district with a large Black population, which will likely flip one of the state's seven seats from Republican to Democratic. That move came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a surprise decision that the state's Republican-enacted plan - which gave the party six seats in 2022 - diluted the power of Black voters, who make up one-third of the state's population.

Legal battles over redistricting could lead to new congressional maps for the 2024 election in more than half a dozen U.S. states, potentially affecting control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November's elections, which Republicans currently control by a narrow 219-213 margin. The two parties are fighting over maps that were redrawn after the 2020 U.S. Census. Democrats have already likely picked up seats in Alabama and Louisiana, while Republicans are poised to flip three Democratic-held seats under a new North Carolina map; more seats are at stake in pending litigation. Redistricting will not affect the battle for the Senate, where each state gets two seats and where Democrats face a significant risk of losing their 51-49 majority.

Here are some of the cases that could affect the campaign: FLORIDA: DEMOCRATS COULD GAIN ONE SEAT, BUT TIME RUNNING SHORT

A state judge in September ruled that a map backed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis violated the state constitution by shredding a Black district in north Florida. The incumbent, Al Lawson, a Black Democrat, lost reelection by nearly 20 percentage points under the new map. However, an appeals court reversed the decision on Dec. 1, reinstating the DeSantis-backed map. The state Supreme Court, where five of the seven justices are DeSantis appointees, has agreed to hear the case, but not until mid-April at the earliest - just days before the filing deadline for candidates.

A separate federal lawsuit challenging the map as unconstitutional is also pending. A three-judge panel held a trial last fall but has not yet issued a ruling. NEW YORK: DEMOCRATS LARGELY PRESERVE STATUS QUO The state legislature's Democratic super-majority approved a new map in February that fell far short of the aggressively partisan plan most observers had expected.

The map made two competitive districts - one held by a Democrat and the other a Republican - slightly more Democratic, but it left most of the state's 26 districts essentially unchanged from 2022. That year, Republicans narrowed Democrats' advantage across the districts from 19-8 to 15-11 (the state lost one seat after 2020 due to slower population growth), after a state judge invalidated a Democratic-engineered map and replaced it with a more competitive one. The Republican gains were almost enough on their own to hand the party control of the U.S. House. Last December, the liberal-majority Court of Appeals ordered the state's bipartisan redistricting commission to draw a new map for 2024, though it would still require legislative approval.

When Democrats announced they would throw the commission's map out and substitute their own version, most analysts assumed they would pass a highly partisan map and dare the courts to step in once again. Instead, they approved only modest changes, leaving some liberals frustrated. LOUISIANA: DEMOCRATS WILL LIKELY GAIN ONE SEAT

A federal judge found the Republican-backed congressional map illegally harmed Black voters and ordered a new map drawn to include another Black-majority district, which would likely give Democrats a second seat among the state's six. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to alter that finding. In response, the Republican-controlled legislature approved a map in January that added a second Black-majority district while protecting the seats of the state's most powerful Republican U.S. House members: Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

The map, however, endangers the reelection chances of Republican U.S. Representative Garret Graves, who represents the newly configured district. ALABAMA: DEMOCRATS WILL LIKELY GAIN ONE SEAT In October, a federal court approved a new congressional map adding a second district with a large Black population, which will likely flip one of the state's seven seats from Republican to Democratic.

That move came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a surprise decision that the state's Republican-enacted plan - which gave the party six seats in 2022 - diluted the power of Black voters, who make up one-third of the state's population. NORTH CAROLINA: REPUBLICANS WILL LIKELY GAIN THREE SEATS The Republican-majority legislature in October approved a new congressional map that is expected to flip at least three Democratic-held seats to Republican in 2024.

The aggressively partisan map was made possible by the state Supreme Court, after two conservative judges won election in 2022. The court's previous Democratic majority had thrown out a Republican map as illegally skewed. Under a court-drawn replacement map in 2022, Republicans and Democrats split the state's 14 districts.

But the court's new conservative majority in April reversed the decision, ruling that state law does not prohibit gerrymandering, the practice of drawing districts to maximize partisan advantage. GEORGIA: REPUBLICANS, JUDGE PRESERVE STATUS QUO A federal judge in October found the state's Republican-drawn map violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the Black vote. Following a trial, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ordered lawmakers to add a district with a Black majority or near-majority, which was expected to flip a Republican seat to Democrats. The Republican-controlled legislature, however, approved a new map on Dec. 7 that maintained the party's 9-5 advantage across the state's 14 congressional districts. The map includes a new majority-Black district but dismantled a separate district that had been mostly made up of minority voters, including Black, Asian and Hispanic voters. Jones ruled that the new map satisfied his order, despite objections from Democrats and voting rights groups.

SOUTH CAROLINA: DEMOCRATS COULD GAIN ONE SEAT The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in October over whether South Carolina's congressional map illegally diluted the power of Black voters. The conservative majority appeared prepared to uphold the map and reverse an appellate court's ruling that Republican lawmakers unlawfully redrew one district along racial lines. The new map turned a swing district into a safer Republican one; the party won six of the state's seven seats in 2022. A ruling is expected by June.

UTAH: DEMOCRATS COULD GAIN ONE SEAT The state Supreme Court is weighing whether a Republican-drawn map that divided Democratic-leaning Salt Lake County into four districts violated the state constitution.

The map transformed a competitive district into a safely Republican one, making it almost certain the party will continue to hold all four of the state's seats. Republican lawmakers implemented the map after stripping authority from an independent redistricting commission that voters approved in 2018.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)