THIS IS BIG: House GOP Poised for Late Redistricting Rebound.

Republicans only need to flip a handful of seats across the country this fall to take over the House and give them the power to stop the White House from passing President Biden’s agenda for the last two years of his term. With the GOP favored to win the House, Democrats are limping toward November but have sought solace in several early redistricting wins.

But any early Democratic advantage – perceived or actual – was threatened last week after a judge threw out New York’s new district lines written by the Democratic-controlled legislature after an independent commission tasked with the job deadlocked last fall. That ruling followed a similar one a week earlier by a Maryland judge who struck down the Democratic-drawn map in that state as unconstitutional. They were the first two maps written by Democrats to be thrown out by the courts this cycle. Judges have previously intervened to block what they deemed to be GOP gerrymanders in North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

“This is a big win for the people, the state of New York,” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who co-chairs the GOP redistricting efforts, told reporters Thursday following the judge’s decision. The judge enforced a constitutional amendment New York voters passed in 2014 aimed at preventing partisan district drawing.

“We feel very good about the way so far for us because we’re out there protecting maps that we believe are constitutional,” Christie said about Republicans’ legal wrangling over the maps.

Still, don’t get cocky.