make it harder for democrats to win back the house majority during the next decade if they lose control in 2022 because most maps being drawn now will remain in place until after the 2030 census li saidthe loss of competition is one of the big stories of this decade li saidthe definition of a competitive seat varies different groups pin the decrease compared with the old maps as anywhere from seven to 16 seats but they are considered seats where either party has a shot at winning politically it is looking bleaktexas exemplifies the trend to use gerrymandering to reduce competition there were 10 congressional districts in texas in 2020 where the margin between biden and donald trump was within 4 points but the new map has only one such competitive districtpolitically it is looking bleak to be perfectly honest said 2020 democratic congressional candidate candace valenzuela who came within 4600 votes of becoming the first black latina in congress from texas 24th district this isnt a democratrepublican problem its going to be an american problem if it isnt already the full impact of the 2022 vote is not yet set as the battle over the maps is still playing out in courts and state legislatures the texas congressional map which sets boundaries for 38 districts or 8 of the entire us house of representatives will be used unless a court intervenes the us justice department is challenging it in courtthe ohio supreme court invalidated the states congressional map on jan 14 ruling that it unconstitutionally favored republicans and ordered the ohio legislature to pass a new map in 30 dayslast month federal judges in alabama ruled that a proposed map violated the voting rights act by not carving out districts in proportion to the states black population the state appealed to the us supreme court but harrell kirstein a spokesman for the national democratic redistricting committee says the loss of competitive seats will hurt democrats by leaving fewer opportunities to flip seats she cited an ndrc analysis that showed that if no districts were gerrymandered there would be a 40 increase in competitive seats rather than a decrease largely because of demographic shifts democratic congressional campaign committee chairman tim persico said that neither side can gerrymander their way to a majority but they can make it harder to win the majority