House Speaker Mike Johnsonspeaks during an event alongside President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., October 20, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump and the GOP once saw redistricting as their path to stave off a midterm wipeout, but according to a new report from MS NOW, the plan has crumbled as they have been forced to play defense in places once considered "safe."
"When Republicans redrew congressional districts in a number of states over the last year, they hoped their efforts would maximize GOP House seats and minimize the number of contests where Democrats could feasibly win," the report detailed. "But now, with just weeks to go before Election Day, Republicans are suddenly finding a host of deep red districts in play — and President Donald Trump’s political operation is now spending millions to defend Republicans in a dozen districts that the GOP redrew to favor Trump by at least nine percentage points."
Reviewing official records, MS NOW reported that a new Trump-affiliated PAC, Never Go Back, has already spent $6 million on GOP races in districts that the president carried by double digits in the 2024 election. The report called this the latest sign that the midterms "are shaping up to be a potential disaster for the GOP," alongside polling that consistently shows recently redrawn districts "don’t appear to be safe" from an impending blue wave.
"[The] biggest investment among the ruby red redrawn districts so far is in Florida’s 25th Congressional District, where Federal Election Commission filings show No Going Back PAC spending more than $2 million on a combination of TV ads and mailers," the report continued. "In that district, Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz is facing off against Republican Scott Singer, the former mayor of Boca Raton. While Florida’s 25th district backed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by approximately 5 points, Florida Republicans redrew the map to turn the area into a Trump +9.2 district. And yet, despite the new district lines, Moskowitz looks like he could pull off the upset. On Tuesday, Fox Newsmoved its rating of the race from 'Toss-up' to 'Lean D.'"
“The American way of life has become unaffordable,” Moskowitz said in a recent statement. “The Trump administration knows this, so their PAC will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to run ads to change the topic. But the bill always comes due at the end of the month.”
Other filings show that Trump-affiliated groups have poured over $1 million into the race in Texas's 35th District. Prior to gerrymandering, the district broke for Kamala Harris by more than 30 points, but it was redrawn to a Trump +10.
"No Going Back PAC is investing more than $500,000 on a TV ad in Texas’ 34th Congressional District, which was redrawn into a Trump +10 district," the report continued. "And the group is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on campaign mailers and other voter outreach efforts across districts like Alabama’s 2nd (Trump +14.3), Florida’s 22nd (Trump +10.6), North Carolina’s 1st (Trump +11.6) and Ohio’s 15th (Trump +10)."
“By lighting their money on fire almost entirely in defensive districts and in places Trump won by double digits two years ago, MAGA Inc. is signaling that vulnerable House Republicans are in deep trouble and poised to lose,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Viet Shelton told MS NOW, adding that the GOP appears to be "running scared."