ALBANY, New York — Gov. Kathy Hochul openly embraced the full-fledged gerrymandering of congressional districts in New York to favor Democrats on Monday, marking a significant shift in her push to combat similar pro-Republican changes in states like Texas.
Her escalation in the political arms race to redraw the boundaries of congressional maps comes at a dramatic moment. Hochul was flanked by a delegation of six Texas lawmakers who fled their home state to block Republicans there from pushing through their own gerrymander.
“I’m tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back,” Hochul said at a Capitol press briefing. “With all due respect to the good government groups, politics is a political process.”
The redistricting skirmish in New York is one front in a much larger battle nationwide. Aside from Texas and New York, California, Ohio and Missouri are also considering similar changes to gain a political advantage ahead of next year’s midterm elections, which will determine which party controls the House and how President Donald Trump will implement his agenda. It also comes as Hochul is increasingly being drawn into the national spotlight. Over the weekend, she publicly feuded with Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz on social media over his criticism that she wore a headscarf at a Muslim NYPD officer’s funeral. Hochul’s reelection run next year coincides with the midterm elections.
The redistricting effort she’s pushing in New York could open the door to a new set of maps that give Democrats an edge in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts by 2028. They won 19 of the 26 seats in 2024.
The six Texas Democrats who stood with her Monday morning fled the state to block a quorum for a planned redistricting vote. That plan would create five new Republican-friendly congressional districts.
Hochul has embraced changing New York’s process since the fight over the Lone Star State maps escalated last month. Other Democrats have gone along as well: New York lawmakers introduced a state constitutional amendment last week that would let Democrats make mid-decade adjustments to their maps before the 2028 election cycle.
Hochul’s latest comments show she and state Democrats are looking to go much further, though. The amendment still would have prohibited maps drawn with the intent of disadvantaging Republicans and would have left an independent redistricting commission in place for 2032.
On Monday, Hochul said rules like those are a relic.
“We’re sick and tired of being pushed around when other states don’t have the same aspirations that we always have,” Hochul said. “And I hold those dear. But I cannot ignore that the playing field has changed dramatically, and shame on us if we ignore that fact and cling tight to the vestiges of the past. That era is over — Donald Trump eliminated it forever.”
Any amendment that changes the rules would need to be approved by the state Legislature in 2026 and again the following year. It would likely be brought to voters as a referendum in Nov. 2027.
Other top New York Democrats indicated Monday they’re willing to go along with a more aggressive approach than what’s already on the table.
“Democratic states have gone to independent redistricting,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said. “It’s difficult to ask New York, California, and other Democratic-leaning states to play nonpartisan while Republicans play very partisan.”
“We’re open to fighting back any way we can,” Senate Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy said.
Hochul has supported using the congressional maps for partisan purposes well before the Texas plan emerged.
“I am also the leader of the New York State Democratic Party. I embrace that,” she said when asked about helping Democrats through redistricting in 2021.
