ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed Monday to push for New York to redraw its congressional map if Republican-led states like Texas do so at President Donald Trump’s urging, promising to “fight fire with fire.”
Normally, the redrawing of congressional district boundaries, a process known as “redistricting,” occurs once a decade, after the U.S. Census. But with Texas leaders, backed by Trump, attempting to redraw the lines to make districts much more favorable to Republicans, Hochul said Democrats cannot ignore that the normal rules have changed.
“I cannot ignore that the playing field has changed dramatically, and shame on us if we ignore this fact and cling to the vestiges of the past,” Hochul said. “Donald Trump has eliminated this forever.”
Hochul delivered her remarks at the State Capitol, accompanied by six Texas state legislators who left that state in a bid to deny the legislature a quorum to pass a bill to redraw the state’s congressional districts. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, at Trump’s urging, is looking to impose a new map eliminating Democrat-held seats in Austin, Dallas and Houston and help Republicans gain up to five seats in 2026 in the party’s overall bid to control Congress.
Trump has said other GOP-led states should do the same.
Hochul and Democratic leaders support a bill that effectively would permit New York to redistrict if other states do so. It effectively would eliminate a so-called Independent Redistricting Commission that drew New York lines in 2022 and 2024.
“We’re sick and tired of being pushed around when other states don’t have the same aspirations we’ve always had,” Hochul said. “I’m tired of fighting this fight with one hand tied behind my back.”
But such a bill would have to be approved by the Democrat-led Legislature and approved in a statewide constitutional amendment, which couldn’t happen before 2027. Which means it wouldn’t take effect till the 2028 elections.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt accused the New York Democrats of “rigging” outcomes and destroying democracy but he didn’t address the Texas issue.
Said Ortt, a Niagara County Republican: “Voters know what this is really about — political power.”
Besides Texas, Republican leaders in Florida, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio are weighing redistricting now instead of waiting for the Census, according to multiple reports. In response, Democrats in New Jersey, California, Illinois and Maryland said they might consider speeding up redistricting too.
Republicans currently hold a 219-212 advantage in Congress. Deaths created vacancies in three typically Democratic-held seats and the party is expected to regain those seats in special elections.
Unlike most states, New York delegated redistricting powers to a 10-member bipartisan commission in 2014, under then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The commission draws up maps that can be approved or rejected by the State Legislature. The process was approved by New York voters in a statewide referendum.
The commission was seen then as a way of making redistricting less partisan.
“Her declaration of a ‘war’ on fair redistricting and her call to ‘fight fire with fire’ betray the principles of democracy she claims to uphold,” Assemb. Chris Tague (R-Schoharie) said Monday.
But with Trump openly urging Republicans to be more partisan in redrawing lines as soon as possible, New York can’t be handcuffed by a “purity test,” the governor and others said.
“It’s difficult to ask New York, California and other Democratic states to play nonpartisan while Republican states are playing very partisan,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) said at the news conference.
Texas Rep. Mihaela Plesa, also at the news conference, added: “The rules have changed.”
