Texas

Texas is the second most populous US state with approximately 30 million residents and holds 38 congressional seats — the second-largest House delegation. It is governed by Greg Abbott (R) and has a Republican-supermajority legislature. Texas has not held a statewide Democratic majority since 1994. Its political geography centres on three Democratic urban cores — Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio/Austin — surrounded by Republican exurbs and rural districts. The state is a World Cup 2026 host, with matches at Dallas (AT&T Stadium) and Houston (NRG Stadium); both cities signed ICE collaboration agreements.

Texas is the US epicentre of data centre expansion, driven by cheap land, a deregulated power market, and no statewide moratorium. The ERCOT large-load interconnection queue passed 225 GW by April 2026, with over 70% attributable to data centres and AI facilities. The Stargate programme's primary US site is at Abilene, running approximately 1.2 GW against a nominal 10 GW national target. xAI's Colossus supercomputer cluster operates in Texas and was awarded 41 Siemens Energy gas turbines in an emergency procurement. Meta's El Paso campus adds to the state's hyperscale footprint. Good Jobs First identified Texas as one of three states losing more than $1 billion per year in data centre sales-and-use tax abatements.

The Supreme Court cleared Texas's PlanC2333 congressional map for use in the 2026 midterms on 27 April 2026, reversing a lower-court ruling that had found evidence of racial gerrymandering. The same six-justice majority acted two days before its Callais ruling gutted VRA Section 2, making PlanC2333 doubly insulated from further challenge. Texas holds 25 Republican and 13 Democratic seats; the cleared map is expected to hold or extend that advantage. The state Senate primary is also heating up, with several incumbents facing well-funded challengers. Four states queued redistricting sessions within 24 hours of Callais; Texas's own map, already locked in, serves as the template.