发布时间：2026年2月15日，美国东部时间上午7:00；更新时间：2026年2月15日，美国东部时间上午9:34 / CNN
作者：莎拉·费里斯、马努·拉朱
众议院民主党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯周四在美国国会大厦的新闻发布会上回答记者提问。
Win McNamee/Getty Images
在哈基姆·杰弗里斯身处共和党控制的华盛顿少数党地位时，他仍被共和党人操纵选区的策略所困扰。他认为，这一策略让他失去了议长职位，并使民主党失去了众议院控制权。
这一次，他确保民主党进行反击。
杰弗里斯正领导民主党反击唐纳德·特朗普总统在中期重新划界的激进推动。他投入大量资金、法律资源和自己的政治资本，确保民主党在每个选区都不留余地——迫使该党放弃长期以来对党派地图干预的道德反对。
“共和党人挑起了这次重新划界战争，民主党已经明确表示，我们要结束这场战争，”杰弗里斯在接受CNN采访时表示，“当他们放低姿态时，我们就要反击。”
杰弗里斯等民主党高层受到全国反特朗普情绪高涨的鼓舞——即使在德克萨斯州的深红地区也取得了补选胜利——并相信他们将在11月夺回众议院，甚至可能拿下参议院。但杰弗里斯认为，不能忽视共和党人的选区操纵，因为2024年北卡罗来纳州仅三个席位的差距就足以让民主党失去多数优势。
在加利福尼亚州重新划界大获全胜后，杰弗里斯誓言投入“数千万美元”推动弗吉尼亚州4月的投票公投，以可能为民主党增加四个席位。现在，他将注意力转向马里兰州，民主党在那里的选区操纵豪赌正面临最严峻的考验。杰弗里斯及其他民主党高层正加大对关键党内领导人——42岁的巴尔的摩人、州参议院议长——的压力，该议长拒绝帮助本党绘制更有利的选区图，以瞄准该州唯一的共和党众议员选区。
杰弗里斯向这位民主党人发出严厉警告，称此举可能帮助特朗普的共和党赢得中期选举。
“一个人不应该阻碍马里兰州人民决定‘我们应该朝这个方向前进吗？还是不回应唐纳德·特朗普继续试图操纵中期选举的行为？’”杰弗里斯表示。
马里兰州参议院议长比尔·弗格森（右）与马里兰州州长韦斯·摩尔于1月20日在马里兰州塞弗纳帕克举行的新闻发布会上发言。
Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
如果弗格森不退缩，杰弗里斯誓言亲自施压：“如果他继续阻碍进行直接投票，我迟早会和他谈谈。”CNN已联系弗格森寻求置评。
然而，马里兰州参议院民主党核心小组的普遍态度是持怀疑态度。他们坚持认为，此时重新划界只会适得其反。
“这不是一个人的问题，而是核心小组根据近期经验对风险计算有不同看法，”一位接近马里兰州参议院民主党核心小组的人士告诉CNN。
尽管核心小组同意杰弗里斯将对抗特朗普作为首要目标，但该人士补充道：“不幸的是，马里兰州中期重新划界会产生相反效果，可能在州法院败诉，让特朗普和共和党在国会获得更多席位。”
包括杰弗里斯在内的民主党高层从未预料到中期重新划界会成为他们中期选举策略的核心。这一过程耗资巨大，法律风险高，充满政治陷阱。杰弗里斯和伊利诺伊州州长JB·普里茨克已经难以在蓝色伊利诺伊州推动中期重新划界支持。（由于伊利诺伊州提前投票已开始，杰弗里斯的盟友坚称，必要时该州仍能被施压行动，例如最高法院推翻《选举权法案》部分条款，造成民主党人称之为“最坏情况”的局面。）
民主党人表示，他们是被特朗普和共和党人拖入这场重新划界战的。去年德克萨斯州重新划界引发了军备竞赛，如今许多民主党人认为，这已成为众议院竞选的新未来。
据多位了解党内策略的人士透露，杰弗里斯及其团队已开始关注华盛顿、科罗拉多州乃至宾夕法尼亚州，为2028年周期做准备。在他们看来，这不仅是今年赢得众议院多数席位的路径，更是长期保持优势的方式。
“（特朗普）想要操纵中期选举，但不知为何认为民主党不会强力回应。他错了，”杰弗里斯表示。
就在共和党在德克萨斯州采取行动数月后，民主党人相信他们有望在加利福尼亚州增加五个席位，犹他州一个，弗吉尼亚州几个——这些举措可能几乎抵消共和党人的选区操纵努力。如果法院挑战成功，纽约州也可能增加一个席位。
与此同时，共和党人已在四个州实施新的国会选区图，瞄准民主党控制的九个众议院席位（密苏里州一个席位仍在法院审理中）。佛罗里达州的大规模行动仍在酝酿中。
但杰弗里斯认为这可能是一场平局。
“共和党人目前的最佳情况是维持现状，这与他们去年吹嘘的‘将通过选区操纵消灭民主党机会’的说法大相径庭，”杰弗里斯表示。
众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯1月30日在美国国会大厦与记者交谈。
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
两党都在密切关注弗吉尼亚州的另一大州级斗争。
新当选的州长阿比盖尔·斯潘伯格和州民主党人正在推行一项激进策略，甚至让华盛顿的一些民主党人感到意外。他们希望消除多达四个共和党席位，将目前由六名民主党人和五名共和党人组成的众议院代表团转变为10名民主党人、仅1名共和党人的局面。
而在这个卡玛拉·哈里斯以约6个百分点获胜的州，这一目标尤为激进。
杰弗里斯告诉CNN，他愿意投入“数千万美元”确保民主党在4月的投票公投中获胜。（与杰弗里斯相关的“众议院多数前进”组织上周承诺投入500万美元，并预计在4月前投入更多资金，该组织向CNN透露。）
民主党人对邻州马里兰州更为焦虑，杰弗里斯等人正在那里加大对州参议院议长的压力，以争取及时让步。
但这可能还不够。据多位密切跟踪该州动向的人士透露，弗格森及核心小组成员坚持认为，目前没有可行路径。
“最终，如果他不支持直接投票，我们也无能为力，”马里兰州民主党众议员格伦·艾维告诉CNN。
艾维表示，如果不是特朗普迫使民主党采取行动，他个人不会选择这条路径，并补充道：“这是一场可怕的博弈。”
但包括艾维在内的许多人都对马里兰州这一蓝色州若忽视共和党人在德克萨斯州、佛罗里达州、北卡罗来纳州等地的操纵行为可能导致的后果感到深深焦虑。
“我们不能因失去一个席位而输掉众议院，”艾维警告道。
马里兰州参议院议长比尔·弗格森和其他持怀疑态度的民主党人认为，此时重新绘制的民主党选区图将无法通过法院审查，反而可能适得其反。如果民主党推进重划，可能导致共和党人在法院支持下获得第二个席位。
“这就是参议院议长不愿推动的原因，”共和党议员安迪·哈里斯在接受CNN采访时表示。
但当被问及新地图可能让民主党陷入不利局面时，杰弗里斯直言：“这种情况不会发生。”
民主党高层认为，即使在马里兰州无法增加这一个席位，他们仍能重新夺回众议院。但他们不愿冒这个险。
当被问及弗格森的举动是否可能导致民主党失去多数优势时，杰弗里斯表示：“那么他就得自己承担后果。”
CNN的维罗妮卡·斯特拉夸卢尔西、杰弗里·阿克曼和珍娜·莫宁对此报道有贡献。
Jeffries goes all in on gerrymandering — with House control on the line
Published Feb 15, 2026, 7:00 AM ET; Updated Feb 15, 2026, 9:34 AM ET / CNN
By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries answers questions during a press conference at the US Capitol on Thursday.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
As Hakeem Jeffries sits in the minority of a GOP-controlled Washington, he is still haunted by a Republican gerrymandering gambit that he believes cost him the speaker’s gavel — and cost his party control of the House.
This time, he’s making sure Democrats fight back.
Jeffries is leading the Democratic party’s counterpunch to President Donald Trump’s aggressive mid-decade redistricting push. He’s going all in with money, legal firepower and his own political capital to make sure no seat is left on the table for Democrats — forcing the party to abandon the left’s longtime moral opposition to party-line map meddling.
“Republicans started this redistricting war, and Democrats have made clear, we’re going to finish it,” Jeffries said in an interview with CNN. “When they go low, we strike back.”
Top Democrats, including Jeffries, are buoyed by signs of surging anti-Trump sentiment across the country — with special election wins even in ruby red parts of Texas — and believe they will capture the House, and possibly the Senate, in November. But Jeffries believes he can’t afford to ignore the GOP’s gerrymandering, when just three seats in North Carolina in 2024 were enough to cost Democrats the majority.
After a huge win on redistricting in California, Jeffries is vowing to spend “tens of millions” of dollars to push through an April ballot initiative in Virginia to potentially give Democrats four more seats. And he is now turning his attention to Maryland, where Democrats’ big gerrymandering gamble is facing its most difficult test yet. Jeffries and other top Democrats are now intensifying pressure on a key party leader, the 42-year-old Baltimorean who runs the state Senate, who refuses to help draw his party another more favorable seat that would target the state’s lone GOP-held congressional district.
Jeffries issued a stark warning to that Democrat, state Senate President Bill Ferguson — suggesting the move could help Trump’s GOP win the midterms.
“One man shouldn’t stand in the way of the people of Maryland … being able to decide, ‘Should we go in this direction? Or should we not answer Donald Trump’s continued efforts to rig the midterm election?’” Jeffries said.
Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, right, speaks during a press conference alongside Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, in Severna Park, Maryland, on January 20.
Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
If Ferguson doesn’t back down, Jeffries vowed to personally apply the pressure: “At some point I’m going to have a conversation with him if he continues to stand in the way of an up-or-down vote.” CNN has reached out to Ferguson for comment.
The prevailing sentiment in the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus, however, is one of skepticism. They insist a new map at this point would only backfire on Democrats.
“It’s not a question of one man, but a caucus that measures the risk calculation differently given recent past experience,” a person close to the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus told CNN.
While the caucus agreed with Jeffries that fighting Trump should the top goal, this person added: “Unfortunately, mid-cycle redistricting in Maryland would have the opposite impact and likely backfire in the state courts, giving Trump and the GOP even more seats in Congress.”
Top Democrats, including Jeffries, never expected a mid-decade redistricting push to be the centerpiece of their midterms strategy. It’s expensive and legally fraught with plenty of political pitfalls. Already, Jeffries and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker struggled to find support for a mid-decade map redraw in blue Illinois. (With early voting already underway in Illinois, Jeffries’ allies insist the state could still be muscled to act, if necessary, such as if the Supreme Court strikes down part of the Voting Rights Act and creates what one Democratic operative called “a worst-case-scenario” for the party.)
Democrats say they were dragged into the redistricting fight by Trump and the GOP, who kicked off the redistricting arms race last year in Texas. Now, as many Democrats see it, it’s the new future of House campaigning.
Jeffries and his team are already looking ahead to states like Washington, Colorado and even Pennsylvania for the 2028 cycle, according to multiple people familiar with party strategy. In their minds, it’s not just the path to the House majority this year, it’s the way to hold onto it.
“(Trump) wanted to rig the midterm elections, and for whatever the reason, didn’t think that Democrats were going to forcefully respond. He got that wrong,” Jeffries said.
Just months after the GOP’s Texas effort, Democrats believe they are on track to gain as many as five seats in California, one in Utah and several in Virginia — moves that could nearly neutralize the GOP’s own gerrymandering push. Another seat could be coming in New York if a court challenge goes their way.
Republicans, meanwhile, have enacted new congressional maps in four states, targeting nine House seats held by Democrats. (One seat in Missouri, though, is still tied up in courts.) A big push in Florida is still to come.
Jeffries, though, believes it could end up as a wash.
“The best-case scenario for Republicans at this point is status quo, which is very different than what they were claiming when they were beating on their chest last year, saying they were going to gerrymander our opportunities out of existence,” Jeffries said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries talks to reporters at the US Capitol on January 30.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Both parties are closely watching another big state fight: Virginia.
Newly elected Gov. Abigail Spanberger and state Democrats are pursuing a strategy so aggressive that it’s surprised even some Democrats in Washington. They are looking to eliminate as many as four GOP seats, transforming their House delegation — which has six Democrats and five Republicans — into one with 10 Democrats and just one Republican.
That’s all in a state where Kamala Harris won by about 6 points.
Jeffries told CNN he is willing to devote “tens of millions of dollars” to make sure Democrats are successful on the ballot in April. (House Majority Forward, a group linked to Jeffries, committed $5 million last week, and it is expected to spend more before April, the group told CNN.)
Democrats are much more anxious about neighboring Maryland, where Jeffries and others are ratcheting up pressure on the state Senate president to yield in time.
It may not be enough. Ferguson and others in the caucus are insisting there is no path forward, both publicly and privately, according to interviews with a half-dozen people closely tracking the state’s push.
“At the end of the day, if he won’t bring it to a vote, there’s not much you can do about that,” Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Maryland Democrat, told CNN.
Ivey said he personally wouldn’t have chosen this path if Trump hadn’t forced Democrats’ hand, adding: “It’s an awful game.”
But Ivey, like many others, is deeply anxious about what could happen if blue-leaning Maryland ignores what GOP leaders in Texas, Florida, North Carolina and other states are doing.
“We better not lose the House by one seat,” Ivey said.
The Maryland flag is seen in Annapolis, Maryland, on April 7, 2025.
Jonathan Newton for The Washington Post/Getty Images
Ferguson and other skeptics believe a new Democratic map in Maryland would not survive the courts and could ultimately backfire. Andy Harris, the GOP lawmaker who stands to lose the seat if Democrats redraw the maps, predicted that Republicans could actually gain a seat if Democrats moved forward — with a court forcing them to redraw in favor of the GOP.
“We’ll get a second seat. That’s why the Senate president doesn’t want to do it,” Harris said in an interview with CNN.
But Jeffries was blunt when asked about a new map backfiring on Democrats: “That’s not going to happen.”
Top Democrats believe they can still win back the House even without that single additional seat in Maryland. But they don’t want to take the gamble.
Asked if Ferguson’s move could cost Democrats a possible majority, Jeffries said: “Well, he’d have to live with that.”
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi, Jeffrey Ackermann and Jenna Monnin contributed to this report.
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