As lawmakers in Texas take up redistricting ahead of schedule at President Donald Trump's behest, New York lawmakers are hustling to respond.
The U.S. House of Representatives is currently split 219 Republicans to 212 Democrats, with four vacancies. Texas Republicans aim to redraw their lines again to give them an advantage in five more districts. The move has outraged Democrats because it would come in the middle of the decade. Redistricting normally occurs every 10 years, after the decennial census.
In response, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrats in the Legislature have threatened to initiate early redistricting in the Empire State. But that process won’t be easy, due to reforms pushed through by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo more than a decade ago.
Those reforms enshrined in New York’s constitution restrict redistricting until after the next census is conducted in 2030. The state is also required to follow specific steps that would delay the new maps from being in place until 2028 at the earliest.
“Cuomo created this reform package, with the support of the then-Republican majority in the state Senate,” said Jeff Wice, director of the New York Elections, Census and Redistricting Institute at New York Law School. At that point, a small group of rogue Democrats were conferencing with the state Senate GOP to give them majority control of the chamber.
Revisiting those heady days in the 2010s highlights how much the gerrymandering debate’s terms have shifted. Back then, many Democrats argued nonpartisan maps were key to a healthy democracy. Now, Trump is pushing the GOP to break the decennial redistricting cycle to bolster his agenda. And New York is among the blue states open to fighting Texas’ gerrymandering fire with fire.
Back then, Cuomo’s idea was to take the redistricting process away from the Legislature and put it in the hands of an “independent redistricting commission.” In 2014, voters adopted the ballot measure, over the objections of some good government opponents who argued the structure of the commission was doomed to fail. Those warnings proved prescient.
Cuomo’s spokesperson Rich Azzopardi says that version of the story ignores the fact that, at the time, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle supported a process intended to limit partisan influence.
“Not only was it passed twice by a Democratic Assembly and a Republican Senate but also approved by a majority of New Yorkers,” Azzopardi said.
Fast forward to 2021, when the commission deadlocked, kicking redistricting back to the state Legislature in 2022. Then Democrats drew lines, Republicans sued, and the courts ruled the Democrats’ maps amounted to an illegal partisan gerrymander.
Arguments and litigation continued until the state Legislature adopted new state Assembly and congressional lines for 2024.
The current lines are supposed to remain in place until 2031. On Tuesday, state Sen. Michael Gianaris and Assemblymember Micah Lasher introduced a constitutional amendment that would allow New York to take up redistricting early if another state does it first.
Gianaris said waiting is equivalent to letting the GOP run the table as Democrats fold in the face of attacks on democratic norms.
“When it comes to Congress, if only some states are following the rules and others are running amok, it’s going to damage the country and create a complete imbalance in Congress,” Gianaris said.
The proposal needs to pass two consecutive legislative sessions and then it would go before voters as a ballot measure. The soonest it could be in place is 2028, three years before New York would have to draw new district maps.
Ballot Box
This week we're wondering: Should New York Democrats initiate redistricting early due to Texas Republicans doing the same?
Last week we asked: Who’s your dream candidate for governor?
“Brad Lander. I believe he will support/work with Mamdani on his goals.”
- Colleen in Manhattan
“Elise Stefanik. It is time to clean house. There is no one better suited to end Hochul and the ‘woke Legislature's’ disingenuous DEI agendas than Stefanik.”
- J.R. in Manhattan
“Elmo. We have the same values and the budget will finally address our urban public school shortages. Elmo would fund public housing statewide. Elmo would be fearless. Elmo would answer to the children, which is what all of us should do.”
- Ramona in the Bronx
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