Study Finds More Democrats in the States
with No Dem Reps than Other Way Around
Capitol Inside
May 6, 2026
Governor Greg Abbott used a national television appearance during the weekend as a stage for portraying Democrats as hypocrites for protests on GOP redistricting when they've drawn maps that have left parts of the United States without any Republican representation in Congress.
"If you look at New England - in all the New England states - there are millions of Republican voters," Abbott said in an appearance on Fox News on Sunday. "Yet there are zero Republicans who represent New England in the United States Congress."
The Texas leader told Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo that a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in cases out of Texas and Louisiana in the past two weeks would put an end to the Democrats' use of race to shut Republicans out of congressional seats in states that are solid blue. But Abbott ignored the other half of the equation on the gerrymandering of congressional districts by the party in power in the individual states.
While it's true that five northeastern states have U.S. House delegations with Democratic monopolies, there are twice as many states around the country without any congressional districts controlled by Democrats than the other way around. Maine has one Democratic U.S. representative
A Capitol Inside analysis that Abbott's comments found that more Democrats reside in states where there are no Democratic congressional members than the number of Republicans in states without a single GOP member in delegations to the U.S. House. Here's the breakdown ...
* The U.S. has 23 states with GOP trifectas - which means that Republicans control the legislatures and governor's offices in those particular places. There currently are no Democratic congressional members in 10 of the Republican trifecta states - according to the review here.
* A total of 16 states have Democrats as governors with Democratic majorities in both legislative chambers. There are no U.S. House members from the GOP in eight states with Democratic trifectas - with six of those in New England. Maine has three Democratic U.S. representatives and one Republican. .
* Democrats control a total of 35 congressional seats combined in the Republican trifecta states. Republicans - by the same token - currently represent 35 U.S. House districts in states with Democratic governors and legislative majorities. Do the math. That's a wash.
* The 10 states with no Democratic congressional members have a combined population of 23.2 million. The seven states that have no U.S. House members from the GOP have 18 million residents combined.
* President Donald Trump received 3.4 million votes in 2024 in the seven states with no Republican congressional members. But Democrat Kamala Harris scored 3.6 million votes in the 10 states that have no GOP members in their congressional delegations.
So - based on the analysis - there were roughly 200,000 more Democratic voters combined in 2024 in states without any congressional members who are Democrats than there are Republican voters in states that have no GOP members in U.S. House delegations.
Five of the seven states with no Republican House members include five in New England - Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Four of the five have Democratic trifectas. But New Hampshire is unique - with a Republican governor, GOP majorities in the state legislature and a congressional delegation with four Democrats and not a single member from the GOP. Republicans lost their only seat in the NH delegation in a special election in 2025. Vermont, which has three Democrats in the U.S. House, has a General Assembly that Democrats control and a Republican governor in Phil Scott.
Hawaii and New Mexico have Democratic trifectas in the state leadership chain and no U.S. representatives who are Republican. With slightly more than 7 million residents, Massachusetts is the largest state by far without a Republican in the lower house of Congress. Connecticut, which has a population half the size of Massachusetts, is second in that regard.
With populations that have surpassed 3 million, Arkansas, Iowa and Utah are among the four largest states without Democratic representation in Congress now. Oklahoma is the largest state without any Democrats in Congress on the current roster. The GOP has no one in current congressional delegations from Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming as well.
more to come ...
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