Republicans devoted much of the 2026 election cycle to aggressively redrawing congressional maps in states under their control, aiming to secure additional House seats at the direction of President Donald Trump.

However, those carefully engineered gains could now be undermined, according to former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, who now serves as a Democratic political commentator. Speaking on MS NOW, Walsh warned that major scandals engulfing House incumbents such as Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) are placing generally safe Republican seats in jeopardy regardless of the redistricting advantage.

MS NOW anchor Erielle Reshef pointed out to Walsh that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has largely continued to back these embattled incumbents.

"He can't think that this is ... a good thing," Reshef said.

"No, it's not a good thing," Walsh responded. He went on to explain that the broader pattern stems from Trump's own playbook. "All of these Republicans have learned from Trump," Walsh said. "So whenever scandals came up with Trump — Trump abusing women, harassing women — what would Trump do? He would just lie about it and deny it. Blame the victim, attack the media, never back down. Never apologize."

Walsh argued that Miller, along with other incumbents facing similar accusations such as Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), believe they can weather the storms using this approach. In reality, he said, they are only "putting these seats at risk."

"They're going to do whatever they can to stay in this race and lie about the charges and deny the charges and attack the media," Walsh said. "But that in a year like this ... when Republicans started the whole mid-decade redistricting, cheating, some of these scandalous Republicans are going to level the playing field here. This could cost them a few of these seats."

The comments highlight a growing tension within the GOP as the party navigates the fallout from multiple member scandals while simultaneously defending the redistricting maps it pushed through in key states. For House Republicans, that matters because the party's effort to reshape districts was intended to make reelection easier in a chamber where even a handful of competitive seats can affect control. Walsh, who represented Illinois's 8th Congressional District from 2011 to 2013 as a Republican before leaving the party and becoming a vocal Trump critic, has frequently commented on what he describes as the normalization of scandal denial within Republican ranks.

Mid-decade redistricting — the practice of redrawing electoral maps outside the standard post-census cycle — has been a contentious strategy employed by both parties at various points, though the 2026 Republican efforts drew particular scrutiny for their timing and scope.