As Texas legislators push their initiative to redraw Congressional districts, New York's Democratic political leaders are discussing the possibility of redistricting in their state.
The Texas House of Representatives has passed a new congressional map that has the potential to flip five Democratic-held districts ahead of 2026 midterm elections, during which much of Congress is up for reelection. It's expected the Texas State Senate will vote on the map as soon as this evening.
The gerrymandering has caught the eye of New York politicians: Governor Kathy Hochul responded by issuing a scathing statement late Wednesday, which says, in part: "Tonight, Texas Republicans delivered Donald Trump the rigged map he demanded."
"I didn't ask for this. I wish everybody played fair. But if you're going to change the rules of the game in the middle of it, then I'm not sitting on the sidelines and letting that happen," said Hochul.
The Democrat has vowed to try to move forward with mid-decade redistricting in New York – a process that would involve changing the state’s constitution, which prohibits gerrymandering and specifies that redistricting occur once a decade.
At a Thursday morning event in Schenectady, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters it’s not that easy to redistrict, a process that in New York occurs under the purview of an independent commission.
"In order to do a change to the Constitution, you have to have two consecutive legislatures pass it, and then it's put before the voters," Heastie said. "So whether we pass something, this is year one of this this legislature, so first passage doesn't have to be this year. We can do it next year. And so the earliest that something could go before the voters is 2027. So are we having those discussions? Yes."
110th district Assemblymember Phil Steck says constituents have been contacting legislators about the issue. "They don't understand that the redistricting in the state of New York is constitutional, and that would, as the speaker pointed out, require passage of a redistricting change bill in two consecutive legislators and then approved by the voters. So we can't do it now, even though many of our constituents would like us to," said Steck.
Heastie said he is open to speaking with Hochul about redistricting, but, ultimately, New York's governors are not involved in constitutional amendments. He added that even if legislators came back for a special session, redistricting doesn’t have traction -- yet.
"There's nothing actual or factual that will happen if we do first passage tomorrow, or, you know, just have to do it by August of next year. So what have you discussed so far about? Well, like I said, most people believe the current commission doesn't work. Like I said, you're just asking for a deadlock when it's five, five. And so we're just going over different, you know.. when I was in college, I took a class called game theory, and, you know, you have different trees and different branches. So we're just discussing that. There's nothing definitive at this point," said Heastie.
Changes, if any, to New York's congressional districts via a redistricting plan wouldn't go into effect until the 2028 elections. The redistricting debate in New York comes as California lawmakers are advancing a plan to overhaul the state's congressional map that would counter the looming changes in Texas.
