2025 shockers: The biggest moments that rocked the campaign trail

RNC chairman takes stock on what a Republican victory in the Tennessee special election means RNC Chairman Joe Gruters discusses the Tuesday's Tennessee special election victory by Matt Van Epps on 'America Reports.' It was an off-year when it comes to elections, but 2025 was on fire on the campaign trail, as next year's looming midterm showdowns took shape. While it was never expected to match the intensity of the tumultuous 2024 battles for the White House and Congress, this year's off-year elections grabbed outsized national attention and served as a key barometer leading up to the 2026 midterm contests for the House and Senate majorities. Here are five of the biggest moments that shaped the campaign trail. 5. Trump pushes mid-decade congressional redistricting Aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterms, President Donald Trump in June first floated the idea of rare but not unheard of mid-decade congressional redistricting. HERE ARE THE NEXT BATTLEGROUNDS IN REDISTRICTING FIGHT President Donald Trump first floated the idea of mid-decade congressional redistricting in June. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo) The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP's razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Trump's first target: Texas. A month later, when asked by reporters about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, "Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five." The push by Trump and his political team triggered a high-stakes redistricting showdown with Democrats to shape the 2026 midterm landscape in the fight for the House majority. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map. But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill, energized Democrats across the country. Among those leading the fight against Trump's redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during an election night press conference at a California Democratic Party office Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo) California voters earlier this month overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative which will temporarily sidetrack the left-leaning state's nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature. That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps. The fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California. Right-tilting Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have drawn new maps as part of the president's push. SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT THE 2025 ELECTIONS SIGNAL FOR NEXT YEAR'S MIDTERM SHOWDOWNS Republicans are looking to GOP-controlled Florida, where early redistricting moves are underway in Tallahassee. A new map could...

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