New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday reiterated that she’s working with the state Legislature to change New York’s redistricting process in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision that weakened a landmark Civil Rights-era law that has been credited for increasing minority representation in Congress and amid a larger national mid-decade redistricting arms race that has intensified over the last year.
“The Supreme Court has been chipping away at our elections for years. It is clearly carrying out Donald Trump’s will with this decision,” Hochul wrote on X Wednesday. “New York has always led the fight for voting rights and we’ll lead again.”
The high court ruled 6-3 in striking down a majority Black congressional district in Louisiana that it said relied too heavily on race. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 bans voting practices that diminish or dilute the power of minority voters, which essentially has shown to have an impact on electing minority candidates.
The decision is wrapped up in an unusual national battle over redrawing congressional lines in the middle of the decade that started in Texas last summer at the request of President Donald Trump to help boost Republicans in the 2026 election cycle. California Democrats responded in kind. Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and most recently, Virginia in a referendum last week, have joined the effort, bringing red states and blue states into the gerrymandering fight to try to outflank the other for so-called safe seats. Florida is also now preparing to redraw its maps as well.
“I’m working with the Legislature to change New York’s redistricting process so we can fight back against Washington’s attempts to rig our democracy,” Hochul wrote in her post.
Hochul and New York lawmakers promised a response after the initial move in Texas — even hosting Texas Democrats in Albany — though the topic has not received much attention while lawmakers are in the middle of a lengthy state budget process.
Whereas other states can redistrict quickly by state legislature and/or public referendum, New York has constitutional limitations. The state in 2014 approved a state constitutional amendment that created the Independent Redistricting Commission with the aim of taking redistricting out of the sole hands of the state Legislature and assigning the task to the panel.
Changing the process would require once again a state constitutional amendment. In New York, constitutional amendments must be passed by two separately elected versions of the state Legislature and then approved by a majority of voters. At the fastest rate, Democrats would have to pass an amendment to give back power to the Legislature this year and again after the 2026 elections, meaning it wouldn’t be put to voters until November 2027 at the earliest, with any kind of potential new maps not taking effect until the 2028 election.
On Tuesday, when asked by reporters if redistricting has been discussed, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters that “we’ve had that conversation.”
“Just to be clear, we think the Independent Redistricting Commission is fine. We’re not trying to throw that out,” Stewart-Cousins said. “But, I am struck by the fact that, I really am struck by the fact, not only of this situation that was triggered by the president wanting to just find seats here, find seats there. So I mean, obviously the conversation began around do we have to break out of our mold? Which obviously is a national one, in order to combat this kind of over-gerrymandering and power grab?”
New York Republicans have railed against the effort despite its roots in the Texas redraw.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
