Republican attempts to save their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives by undertaking unprecedented mid-decade redistricting schemes in Texas, Florida and other ruby-red states largely fell flat in last week’s midterm elections, as voters rejected GOP candidates even in seats President Donald Trump carried by double digits two years prior.

Now, Democrats who raced to keep up with the Republican redraws are hesitating, unsure whether to use newfound state powers to execute their own cutthroat maneuvers as progressive interest groups push them to act more aggressively.

Party leaders who once championed mid-decade redistricting now sound much less sure that they will advance new maps before the 2028 presidential contest.

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat and the presumptive speaker-in-waiting, pledged as recently as May that his party would be ready to redraw maps in seven states — including his home state of New York — ahead of the 2028 elections.

Asked about redistricting plans after his party stormed back to the majority, Jeffries did not answer directly: “[Republicans] messed around and now they’re going to find out,” Jeffries told reporters at a post-election press conference. He did not elaborate.

Jeffries’s new majority will include members from districts Republicans initially believed they had drawn as safely red. In Texas, where Republicans redrew five seats to favor their candidates, Democrats actually netted a seat. Democrats appear to have held all eight of their seats in Florida, another state that redrew maps to benefit the GOP.

If party leaders have given any sign, it is that they intend to reserve the opportunity to redraw maps as a deterrent to other states still in Republican hands that might advance remap plans.

In Maryland, where voters approved a ballot measure giving lawmakers the authority to redraw map lines in between census periods, the measure’s chief backers are not committing to using that power.

“We’re very excited. We said that Maryland was not just going to sit on our hands while we are watching Donald Trump unilaterally try to redistrict this country,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said on CNN last week. “Maryland needs to have the ability to respond.”

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat who had previously blocked Moore’s redistricting plan before reversing course, also sounded noncommittal.

“I’ll be discussing any next steps with my Senate colleagues and other state leaders,” Ferguson said in an email. “We will certainly take into account the results of how mid-cycle redistricting efforts played out across the country and any further actions other states may pursue. Regardless, lowering costs, growing our economy and protecting programs Marylanders rely on will remain our top priorities.”

Virginia lawmakers hinted they may take a second run at redrawing congressional district maps, months after the state Supreme Court rejected a ballot measure voters approved earlier this year.

“We haven’t talked about that yet. We’ve been focused on the things that voters care about,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, a Democrat, told reporters on Tuesday. “Virginia voters made very clear that they supported what we did last session.”

New York lawmakers intend to approve a ballot question that would give them authority to redraw map lines mid-decade. That measure, passed this year, must pass again next year before it can appear on the 2028 ballot. If it is passed, lawmakers would be able to draw new district boundaries ahead of the 2030 elections.

Some interest groups are pushing Democrats to go on the offensive. Leslie Martes, chief executive of Forward Majority, a progressive group that spent more than $33 million to aid legislative candidates in four states where Democrats secured trifecta control, said she expected Democrats to take action in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona.

“Democrats can draw new maps there,” Martes said in an interview. “We expect that to happen. We’ve laid the groundwork for that.”

A spokesperson for Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton, a Democrat, declined to comment. Arizona lawmakers would have to change an independent redistricting commission that oversees the state’s maps.

Wisconsin is the state where incoming Democratic leaders are openly planning a new map. Gov.-elect David Crowley, a Democrat, said he would sign new maps if lawmakers approve them. House Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, the likely next speaker, said redistricting was on the table.

“We are going to consider congressional redistricting,” Neubauer said on a call last week led by the States Project, another group that supports Democratic legislators. “We have gerrymandered maps in Wisconsin. They favor Republicans to a significant degree, and we know that other states will consider redistricting efforts in the months ahead that will further attempt to entrench Republican power.”

John Bisognano, who heads the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said Wisconsin Democrats had built a political foundation for redrawing map lines, which he called a gerrymandered legacy of former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican whose 2010 victory ushered in 16 years of GOP control of the Legislature.

“Every one of those legislators ran on the idea that they should redraw fair maps in Wisconsin. That’s been a narrative in that state for the last five years, if not 10,” Bisognano said in an interview. “Do I think the Wisconsin legislators are going to redraw Wisconsin? I do, and I think that makes total sense. It’s a part of the past, not a part of the future.”

Bisognano said Democrats are watching Republicans who have voiced support for new map lines in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina and possibly Indiana, all states where Republican leaders have voiced support for new maps.

“Democratic states need to be prepared if Republicans do pick up the pen,” he said. “We obviously have more opportunities than we had pre-Tuesday to respond.”