Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.

* In a surprise development, federal judges this week blocked Texas’ gerrymandered district map, created by Republican lawmakers in August at Donald Trump’s behest, and ordered the Lone Star State to use the same map it used last year. State Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

* Looking ahead to the 2026 midterm elections, the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll found Democrats with a surprisingly large advantage over the GOP on the generic congressional ballot: Asked which party’s candidates they’d support if the 2026 races “were held today,” 55% said they’d back Democrats, while 41% supported Republicans.

* After several days of online hysterics from the president about a proposed redistricting scheme in Indiana, the state’s Republican governor, Mike Braun, said in a statement that he’d support primary challenges to any GOP legislators who failed to go along with a partisan mid-decade gerrymandering scheme.

* Ahead of her inauguration as New Jersey’s next governor, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill will formally resign from Congress on Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy will then schedule a special election to fill the U.S. House vacancy.

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* In South Dakota, Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden, who reached his office after former Gov. Kristi Noem became homeland security secretary, announced this week that he’ll seek a full term of his own next year. The incumbent governor will, however, compete in a crowded GOP primary.

* House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hopes to become House speaker after the 2026 midterm elections, but before that happens the New York Democrat will have to overcome a primary challenge: Chi Ossé, a member of the New York City Council, filed the paperwork this week to take on Jeffries.

* And Jaime Harrison, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, announced this week that he’s launching a seven-figure campaign with the goal of “expanding the map” for Democrats by boosting the party in rural areas and small towns. NBC News reported that Harrison is using his PAC, Dirt Road Dems, as part of the new initiative.