(NEXSTAR) – While Congress is deadlocked over government funding, some states are moving forward with efforts to redraw congressional lines. 

North Carolina has now joined the struggle after Republican leaders in the state revealed their plan to vote on redistricting their map to benefit the Republican party next week.

It comes as California, Texas, Missouri and more states consider mid-decade redistricting in an effort to impact the balance of power in Congress. 

“We’ve really got an arms race now,” Professor and Director of Political Management at George Washington University Todd Belt said. 

Belt says shifting district lines though could end up backfiring.

“Because you don’t want to put too many of the other party’s people in your district,” Belt said. 

California will test that out in three weeks with a special election on a new map aiming to elect five more Democrats to Congress. 

“I just got my ballot,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) said. 

California’s Democratic Representative, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, mentioned this move as a counteraction to Texas’s updated map. President Trump encouraged Texas to work towards electing five more Republicans to Congress.

“This is a moral defense about an outrage that has happened in Texas and potentially may grow into other states,” Kamlager-Dove said. 

California Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, whose district is affected by the new map, sees the measure differently. 

“It’s a vote between do we gerrymander in California or do we not gerrymander in California,” Kiley said. 

Meanwhile House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says he supports California’s effort. 

“Democrats are going to take back control of the House of Representatives,” Jeffries said. 

But as new maps face legal challenges and the midterms inch closer, Belt says that can put courts in a tricky position. 

“There have been instances where states were compelled to redraw their boundaries, and courts have intervened to assess if there was adequate time for voters to be informed about their district locations,” Belt remarked. “This situation can become quite complicated.”

States typically redraw districts every decade after the census.