Consultant Mike Madrid Discusses How Republican Gerrymandering Has Backfired

Political consultant Mike Madrid discussed how Republicans' gerrymandering efforts have backfired in an interview with NPR's Leila Fadel. The conversation was heard on NPR's Morning Edition on October 26, 2026.

Gerrymandering is the practice of redrawing voting district boundaries to give one political party an advantage. Republicans redrew congressional district lines to try to tilt the 2026 midterm elections, which decide control of Congress, in their favor.

According to the Associated Press, Republicans secured favorably redrawn congressional maps in seven states: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

Republicans think they could win as many as 16 additional House seats from new maps enacted in eight states, including Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, the AP has reported.

Results have not all followed that path. A Reuters analysis found that nine Republican-redrawn districts now lean Democratic or are too close to call.

Reuters has also reported that Republicans may have gerrymandered their way into a Texas-sized Latino problem, a concern tied to how the new lines affect Latino voters. In a separate report, Reuters said Republicans have generally fared better than Democrats in a recent spate of election-related Supreme Court cases.