Trump started a redistricting war. Now 1 in 10 Americans are in new House districts

Over 10% of U.S. residents now live in a different congressional district after an unparalleled deluge of mid-decade partisan redistricting over the past year, a report found Thursday.

The nonprofit Protect Democracy concluded that 34.8 million people’s congressional districts changed between 2024 and 2026, and around one in five voters live in a district where over a quarter of the electorate has changed. 

The redistricting war began in summer 2025 when President Donald Trump pressured Republicans across the country to eliminate some Democratic seats. Fights spread nationally as Democrats responded to regain losses.

At least nine states have successfully redistricted since the 2024 election.

The result, Protect Democracy said, is that voters lose faith in U.S. democracy and politicians become more insulated from public accountability.

“If a voter is shunted from district to district every two or four years, they will begin to feel like their elected leaders are choosing them, not the other way around,” the report reads. “Gerrymandered districts are designed to be predictably uncompetitive, and that’s a dynamic that (understandably) makes regular voters feel like their voice isn’t being heard.”

Though state law generally allows mid-decade redistricting, lawmakers have largely avoided it for decades. In the past 50 years, a state only redrew its map twice between the typical 10-year cycles until last year’s arms race began, according to the Pew Research Center.

Protect Democracy warned that a “two-party doom loop of redistricting” could accelerate after the 2026 midterms.

“The United States may see near-perpetual maximalist gerrymandering, with many or even most states redistricting more than once a decade,” the report reads.