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Indiana Republican state lawmakers who broke with President Donald Trump over his call to redraw the state’s congressional district lines are facing primary challengers who are backed by Trump and national conservative groups. The election Tuesday is the latest one to test the limits of Trump's influence with voters ahead of the midterm. Trump is targeting seven state senators who defied months of White House pressure by voting in December against mid-decade redistricting. Trump undertook the national campaign to redraw congressional maps to boost his party’s chances in the November midterm elections.

Tennessee becomes the latest Southern state to consider redrawing its congressional map after the U.S. Supreme Court severely weakened the Voting Rights Act. Republican Gov. Bill Lee called Tennessee lawmakers into a special session starting Tuesday to consider a plan that could break up the state’s lone Democratic-held U.S. House district, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis. Republican lawmakers there and elsewhere are using a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to try to redraw congressional districts before the November midterm elections. The Supreme Court recently struck down Louisiana's U.S. House map, saying it relied too heavily on race.

A partisan redistricting battle among states has accelerated ahead of the midterm elections. This comes after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and opened the way for states to eliminate voting districts drawn for racial minorities. Voting districts typically are redrawn based on census data after the start of each decade. But an unusual spate of mid-decade redistricting broke out after President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to reshape U.S. House districts to give the party an edge in the November midterm elections. Democrats in California countered with their own political gerrymandering. More states have followed.

Republican governors in Alabama and Tennessee have called lawmakers into special sessions seeking new congressional districts. The U.S. Supreme Court weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has called legislators back to Montgomery starting Monday. The special session is centered on enabling a special primary election. Tennessee Gov. Republican Gov. Bill Lee has announced a special session starting Tuesday. Republicans are eyeing the possibility of getting new lines in place for the 2026 midterm elections, or at least 2028. Democrats are sharply criticizing the decision to try to change maps ahead of looming elections.