Flanked by Democratic lawmakers from Texas, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state should abandon its commitment to nonpartisan districts and instead let Democrats redraw maps to maximize their political power.
The Democratic governor said Monday that the state should scrap the Independent Redistricting Commission enacted by voters in 2014.
“I'm tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back. With all due respect to the good-government groups, politics is a political process,” Hochul said at the Capitol. “Republicans take over the legislature, they can have at it. But until then, we're in charge and we're sick and tired of being pushed around.”
Her statement goes against more than 15 years of advocacy by progressives in her own party who pushed for an independent process after New York Republicans drew favorable districts that helped them maintain power in the state Senate until 2019.
Hochul’s aggressive posture comes as other Democrats around the country — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom — argue they have no choice but to fight gerrymandering fire with fire.
Indeed, the governor spoke as Republicans in Texas prepared to re-draw legislative district lines in their state to favor GOP candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. Redistricting normally occurs once a decade, following the release of new population estimates by the U.S. Census.
Democratic state lawmakers from Texas have fled the Lone Star State to deny the legislature a quorum for the redistricting measure. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said he will attempt to replace the absent lawmakers.
“The absconded Democrat House members were elected to meet and vote on legislation — not to prevent votes that may not go their way,” Abbott said in a statement. “Every session, legislators on both sides of the aisle find themselves on the losing side of a legislative vote. And every session, most of those legislators find a way to disagree agreeably and behave like adults, rather than going AWOL.”
The Texas lawmakers said they were doing their duty to their constituents by blocking the bill. Rep. Mihaela Plesa, a Democrat from the Dallas area, said Republicans were trying to “hijack our democracy.”
Plesa said new maps could yield five additional GOP members of Congress. There are currently 219 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and 212 Democrats. The Texas delegation has 25 Republicans, 12 Democrats and one seat vacant.
“The fight isn't just about lines on a map. It's about lives on the line,” Plesa said, referring to legislation that a GOP-controlled Congress could enact. “That's why we're here. That's why we're fighting. It's about democracy. It affects every single American.”
New York’s constitution now places a bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission in charge of drawing districts for the U.S. House as well as the state Assembly and Senate. Legislators take over if the panel deadlocks, and all lines are subject to constitutional language prohibiting gerrymandering that Hochul said she would consider changing.
The Independent Redistricting Commission deadlocked ahead of the 2022 elections, giving the redistricting pen to Democrats, who control the state legislature. The New York State Court of Appeals, citing the anti-gerrymandering language, knocked out Democrat-drawn maps that analysts said would have given Democrats an edge in 22 of its 26 U.S. House districts.
The maps currently in use in the state were largely drawn by a court-appointed special master. New York’s House delegation now includes 19 Democrats and seven Republicans. Using the court-drawn map, Republicans in 2022 netted three seats in the House from New York, helping propel the GOP into the majority.
Hochul, inspired by the Texas Democrats’ example, said she was exploring every option to redraw New York’s lines before the next planned redistricting in 2032. Changing the state constitution is a cumbersome process that couldn’t be completed until 2027 at the earliest.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie last week blamed former Court of Appeals Chief Judge Janet DiFiore for the current situation in the state, saying, “ if we didn't have a Republican hiding in Democratic clothing as the chief judge of the state, we might not even be having this conversation.”
DiFiore was nominated to her position by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and confirmed by the state Senate, which was controlled by Republicans. She couldn’t be reached for comment.
On Monday, Heastie agreed with Hochul.
“ In politics, there's no such thing as nonpartisan,” he said. “I think it's difficult to ask New York, California and other Democratic-leaning states to play nonpartisan while Republicans play very partisan.”
Republicans cried foul.
“Voters know what this is really about — political power. That is why voters have resoundingly rejected Democrats’ shameless gerrymandering attempts at the polls,” state Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said. “It’s time to put politics and fear mongering aside and refocus efforts on the real issues facing our state.”
New York Republican State Committee Chair Ed Cox said Hochul’s statement was “remarkable.”
“The veil has fallen, and her remarks should astound all New Yorkers regardless of party,” he said.
Representatives of the good-government groups that pushed New York to change its redistricting processes were more muted. New York Public Interest Research Group Executive Director Blair Horner acknowledged the current redistricting system was “a mess.”
“Fixing it makes more sense than promising a race to the bottom,” he said.
Citizens Union Executive Director Grace Rauh said voters enacted the current process.
“We understand the governor’s frustration, but history has shown that when lawmakers draw their own lines — voters and communities are the first to get hurt,” she said.
But nationally, Democrats are more in line with Hochul. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has advocated for independent redistricting as chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. He said his group wouldn’t oppose Democratic efforts to respond to Republican actions in Texas.
“Our enduring commitment to fairness does not blind us to reality,” Holder said. “In this moment steps must be taken to respond to the authoritarian measures being considered in certain states and now so brazenly taken in Texas. We must preserve our democracy now in order to ultimately heal it.”
As Hochul spoke inside the state Capitol’s ceremonial Red Room, a plane towing a “Mess with Texas” banner circled outside. Hochul said she treated the Texas representatives to breakfast at the Executive Mansion but that they would soon be on their way. She didn’t say where they were headed next.
Plesa said she and her colleagues planned to meet with people around the country.
“This is a war,” she said. “We're building a coalition.”
Jon Campbell contributed reporting.
