(AP) — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is promising that Texas will be quick to appeal a ruling from three federal judges that prevents the states from using a new congressional map favoring the GOP.

Abbott called the 2-1 decision that the new map represented improper racial gerrymandering “absurd” and “clearly erroneous.”

Texas was the first state to heed President Donald Trump’s call Republicans to redraw maps in to help the GOP pick up additional seats in the 2026 midterm elections and preserve its slim U.S. House majority. The new Texas map was designed to give Republicans five more winnable seats and touched off a state-by-state fight over partisan redistricting.

“The Legislature redrew our congressional maps to better reflect Texans’ conservative voting preferences -– and for no other reason,” Abbott said in a statement.The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that federal courts cannot review partisan gerrymandering claims.