From ajc:

Usually out of the national spotlight, state legislative races are taking on new prominence this year. The reason? It’s a year ending in a zero, when U.S. census results are the cue for state lawmakers to draw new boundaries for congressional districts across the country.

“State legislators will have the pen in their hands,” says former Rep. Tom Reynolds of New York, who heads the national redistricting effort for the Republican State Leadership Committee.

By law, the nation’s 435 U.S. House districts must be roughly equal in population, which means some of their boundaries must be redrawn whenever the census reveals significant population shifts over the past decade.

The task is done by state lawmakers and governors in most states, and the political party that controls the state legislature has the edge in drawing new boundaries. Democrats currently hold the advantage, controlling 60 of 98 state House and Senate chambers.
 

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