How redistricting is shaping the 2022 U.S. House map

The march to the 2022 midterm elections is on, as states completed their new congressional maps following the 2020 Census. As of June 7, all 50 states have settled on the boundaries for 435 U.S. House districts.. Each state has a different process for drawing maps and state lawmakers or independent commissions will need to approve new maps before the primary election cycle.

Democrats narrowly control the U.S. House, so both parties are going to great lengths to tip districts in their favor. Republicans have already drawn advantageous lines in Texas, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats control fewer districts overall but have used Illinois and Oregon to make gains so far.

Many state legislatures are approving maps that eliminate competition in favor of more solidly Republican or Democratic districts. Approved maps are already facing legal challenges that could delay their use or lead to court-mandated changes. In the last redistricting cycle, legislative deadlocks and legal challenges resulted in many districts eventually being determined by courts.

Maps that have been struck down

The Supreme Court in early February put on hold a lower court’s order that Alabama must create a second congressional district favorable to Black voters, over the objections of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court’s three liberals.

The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on February 4 that political district maps drawn by the Republican-controlled state legislature were unconstitutional and must be redrawn. On Feb. 23, a three-judge panel rejected a new map passed by Republican lawmakers and instituted a replacement map.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the congressional map enacted by Ohio’s Republican legislature in November violated the partisan-fairness requirement. On March 2, Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved a remedial map.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan agreed on April 4 to sign into law the state’s new congressional map. A previous version of the map was struck down by a judge who found it to be the “product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.”

Explore the map

The Washington Post is using the number of Trump and Biden voters within old and new district boundaries, according to data collected by Decision Desk HQ, to show how the districts have changed politically. As more states finalize their maps, we’ll add them to this page to give a fuller picture of what to expect in the midterms.

Look up your address to see if district boundaries will shift in your community, or click the districts we’ve suggested and toggle between the old and new lines.

The map above shows which states have approved maps so far, paired with the most detailed presidential election results available from 2020. The darkest red areas represent the precincts or counties where Donald Trump won many more votes than Joe Biden. In the darkest blue areas, Biden won many more votes. Yellow areas are the most politically divided areas of the country — the presidential vote margin for those was less than five points.

Though Democrats performed well in 2020 at the presidential level, these results are not necessarily predictive for how districts will vote in 2022. There are also districts in the current map that voted for opposing parties for president and U.S. House.

Harry Stevens contributed to this report.