New Voting Maps for 2022 Midterm Elections

The new maps offer fewer competitive districts than at any point in the last five decades, continue to favor the political party that drew them, and diminish the political power of communities of color

By Carnegie Corporation of New York September 8, 2022

Voting

A redistricting rally on Lawyers Mall in Baltimore, Maryland (Credit: Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

New voting maps are in place for the 2022 midterm elections and in much of the country they continue to favor the political party that drew them. The maps have resulted in fewer competitive districts than at any point in the last five decades, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a Carnegie Corporation of New York grantee. And communities of color will see little increase in electoral opportunities and, in some places, a diminishment of their political power – despite having accounted for nearly all of the country’s population growth during the past decade.

In a series that analyzes the 2021–22 redistricting cycle, the Brennan Center finds that partisan gerrymandering has continued to skew maps in favor of Republicans, but both parties still have viable paths to win control of the House in future elections. It also finds that the party that gains control of the House will be determined by races in an increasingly small number of congressional districts.

The U.S. Constitution mandates that congressional seats be reapportioned every 10 years, and each state must redraw its congressional map based on the decennial census. In the 2021–22 redistricting cycle, Republicans have controlled the drawing of 187 congressional districts and Democrats have controlled 75.

As of August 10, 2022, 72 cases have been filed challenging congressional and legislative maps across 26 states as racially discriminatory and/or partisan gerrymandering, according to Brennan’s Redistricting Litigation Roundup. Alaska, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and Ohio have redrawn legislative and/or congressional maps under orders from state courts in time for the 2022 election cycle. South Carolina has agreed to amend its new state house map without a court order, but the revised map will not take effect until 2024. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has stayed federal court judgments for Alabama and Louisiana to redraw their congressional maps, pending appeal.

To learn more about the new congressional and legislative maps in your state, search Brennan’s 2022 Redistricting Map Tracker.