By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) – The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Monday he would press his home state of New York to redraw its congressional districts to yield more seats for his party, in response to a similar effort by Republicans elsewhere.
The announcement by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries indicated that a Supreme Court decision last week is likely to usher in a new era of nakedly partisan gerrymandering across the United States, as both parties press for advantages ahead of the November elections, in which control of Congress is at stake.
Republican governors of Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Louisiana have said they will try to push through maps more favorable to their party following the Supreme Court decision, which made it more difficult to challenge electoral maps as racially discriminatory under a landmark voting-rights law.
Jeffries said a fellow House Democrat, Joe Morelle, would meet with New York state lawmakers on Tuesday to discuss a possible redistricting in that state as well.
Democrats hold 19 of the state’s 26 congressional seats. But a map would have to be approved by voters as well as the state legislature, which means it wouldn’t be in effect until the 2028 cycle at the earliest.
“This is just the beginning,” Jeffries said in a statement. “Across the nation, we will sue, we will redraw and we will win. House Democrats will not allow a MAGA majority to be built on rigged maps and the dilution of Black voting strength.”
Ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, several Republican-led states had already redrawn their maps to maximize their partisan advantage, at the urging of President Donald Trump. Several Democratic-led states, including California and Virginia, have responded with new maps of their own.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; additional reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)
