4 weeks ago
16
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Thousands assembled around the country to demonstrate against a Republican effort to redraw congressional maps in their favor for 2026.
Aug. 16, 2025, 6:02 p.m. ET
Thousands gathered in cities across the country on Saturday to protest President Trump's plan to keep control of Congress after the 2026 midterms by pushing Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps in favor of Republicans.
The president’s push for the rare and aggressively partisan redistricting, while centered on Texas so far, has set off a furious response among many Democratic state leaders and party activists. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that he was moving forward with a plan to redraw his state’s lines, and allow voters to approve it in November.
On Saturday, Democratic activists, labor groups and other supportive organizations put together more than 300 political events and rallies, looking to galvanize voters who may be angry at the Trump administration but may view the process of redrawing district lines as opaque and unrelated to their concerns.
“We need to have as many protests in this country as possible,” said Cheryl Merzel, 72, a retired public health professor who attended a rally outside a Trump hotel in Manhattan.
The biggest event appeared to be at the Texas Capitol in Austin, where a two-week-long walkout by dozens of Democratic state representatives has temporarily prevented Republican lawmakers from passing a redrawn map.
Crowds packed together in the August heat to hear from activists and lawmakers, including a pair of Democratic U.S. House members from Austin, Lloyd Doggett and Greg Casar. The two members would find themselves competing for a single Austin congressional seat under the proposed Republican map. Organizers said several thousand people took part.
