New York Democrats are vowing to redraw the state’s congressional lines to match Republican-led states in the latest burst of partisan redistricting around the U.S. to grab House seats and hold power.
But a long battle lies ahead before New York can join the state-by-state gerrymandering war that President Donald Trump set off last year by demanding Texas redraw its lines to gain GOP seats. Democratic leaders in Albany are moving to take the first step in a clash with Republicans that could play out over two years: amending the state constitution to allow map changes for the 2028 elections.
“I think the question is whether or not we’re going to allow certain states in this country to do hyperpartisan redistricting, while we’re trying to do the best thing for people and not engage in it,” Rep. Joe Morelle, a Rochester-area Democrat, said at a press conference at the state Capitol on Tuesday, May 5. “We’re not going to unilaterally disarm.”
How NY congressional redistricting would unfold
Morelle was sent by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss redistricting options with Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature’s leaders. Their general path is already clear: lawmakers must pass a constitutional amendment in coming weeks — during a session that is set to end on June 4 — and again next year so they can then put it before voters in a 2027 referendum.
New Yorkers are sure to be bombarded in a costly ad war by both parties before that vote. If they pass the amendment, the next stage would be the drafting and approval of new House lines by the Legislature — and a potential court challenge waged by Republicans.
Supreme Court decision expected to flip House seats to GOP
New York’s redistricting plans got renewed urgency from an April 29 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gutted a landmark civil rights law and is expected to cost some Black Democrats their House seats. Republican-led states in the South are now racing to redraw their House lines to erase districts with majority Black populations created under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, May 5, New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — the first woman of color to lead New York’s Senate — called the Supreme Court ruling “beyond heart-breaking,” and said, “it really is an assault, in many ways, certainly on Black leadership in the nation.”
The dismantling of majority-minority districts as a result of that decision is expected to yield more House seats for Republicans in 2026 and others for the 2028 elections. They are pushing to retain their narrow House majority and counter Democratic momentum in this year’s critical midterm races.
The response that New York leaders are devising will have no effect on those upcoming elections because of the state’s multi-year amendment process. The earliest new lines could be in place is for the next House elections in 2028.
What will NY amendment include?
A bill pending in Albany since last year would allow the state to redraw its lines in mid-decade — outside the normal timeline — if another state has done so. That new House map would be made by the Legislature rather than the appointed commission that was created under redistricting reforms embedded in the constitution in 2014.
But that step alone would still leave a big hurdle for Democrats in gaining seats, since the 2014 reforms also banned drawing lines to favor one party. Democrats learned the restraints that imposes in 2022 when they tried gerrymandering and promptly lost a court challenge by Republicans. That led to a court-imposed map instead.
Democrats were expected to win at least 22 of New York’s 26 House seats under that invalidated map. They currently hold 19.
One way Democrats could avoid repeating their 2022 legal defeat is to suspend the state’s anti-gerrymandering rule as a temporary measure. That would be done by revising their amendment bill.
Jeff Wice, a professor at New York Law School in Manhattan and an expert on redistricting, said both California and Virginia recently took similar steps by waiving their usual redistricting criteria for mid-decade map changes. Voters in both states passed constitutional amendments that are expected to gain seats for Democrats in this year’s elections.
Wice traced the national scramble to redraw House districts to Trump’s quest to avoid a Democratic-led House for his last two years as president.
“There’s no other reason for this than Donald Trump’s fear of losing the House of Representatives, period,” Wice said.
New York GOP Chair Ed Cox criticized Morelle and Democrats for “undermining” democracy in their redistricting pursuits.
“New York is one of the few states in the nation with a ban on partisan redistricting in the State Constitution – passed by referendum in 2014 and affirmed by voters in 2021,”Cox said in a statement.
“Today, Morelle is in Albany under orders from Hakeem Jeffries to subvert the will of the voters by overturning that very referendum. That’s not ‘defending democracy’ – that’s an attack on democracy,” Cox added.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: How NY Democrats could redraw House lines to counter GOP redistricting
Reporting by Chris McKenna and Emily Barnes, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
