Hochul, Jeffries not ruling out possible New York mid-decade redistricting effort

WASHINGTON — Gov. Kathy Hochul and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries aren’t ruling out redrawing New York’s congressional lines before 2028 as a response to the President Donald Trump-backed GOP gerrymandering in Texas and other red states.
But in the wake of last week’s Republican election drubbings in some states where redistricting backfired, a softer tone surrounds whether New York Democrats will, in fact, pursue retaliatory mid-decade remapping. That includes any potential targeting of Long Island’s Republican-held districts now held by Reps. Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota.
"The political landscape has changed, but I’m going to take that into account and I’m going to talk to Leader Jeffries, and I’m going to talk to the legislative leaders about where they want to go with this," Hochul told reporters in Manhattan on Tuesday. She reiterated the Trump-backed redistricting by red states before this year’s midterm elections was "really abhorrent."
At the same time, Hochul underscored that future elections won’t necessarily mirror last week’s results, and that for Democrats, "We can’t assume there’s going to be same outcome every two years, so we’ll look at it long-term."
"I don’t think anyone has said never mind. I think it’s clearly on the table," said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-Irondequoit), who Jeffries tapped to help coordinate with state officials a potential mid-decade redistricting effort. Morelle added during an interview with Newsday, "We have plenty of time to think about this and figure out where we land."
No immediate responses were provided to requests for comment directly from Jeffries, the Brooklyn native who is likely to become U.S. House Speaker in the new Democratic-controlled Congress that convenes in January.
Hochul has said since 2025 that New York Democrats will "fight fire with fire" by wading fiercely into a national redistricting battle. And Jeffries predicted in May that after Democrats won the House in November, New York and six other blue states would be unleashing Democratic redistricting of their own before 2028 in "a decisive and forceful response to what they are doing in the Deep South."
"We’re going to crush their souls as it relates to the extremism that they are trying to unleash on the American people," Jeffries said then.
But some non-partisan analysts suggest Democrats could potentially be heading in a self-defeating "overkill" territory by pressing ahead with redistricting after the midterm elections drubbing of Republicans, and should tap the brakes.
"It's only justified if you believe you must match Trump's race to the bottom. So, in my opinion overkill and unjustified," said Donald Nieman, a history and political expert at Binghamton University. "The 2024 and 2026 elections showed that there are more persuadable voters out there, people who aren't die-hard fans of the red or blue team. They don’t like these shenanigans,"
With last week’s elections, Democrats in New York have flipped a lower Hudson Valley seat now held by Republican Mike Lawler of Pearl River. That will give them 20 of the state’s 26 congressional seats in the new 120th Congress.
But passage of a referendum in 2027 could set the stage for as many as three more seats now held by Republicans to be drawn to lean more blue. That could include at least one Long Island district — either the one held by Garbarino (R-Bayport), which includes parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties, or LaLota’s (R-Amityville) Suffolk-based district. Long Island’s two other districts are held by Democrats.

This spring, the state Legislature already did approve a constitutional amendment to allow for the mid-decade congressional line changes starting in 2028. That amendment gives the Legislature more control over map-drawing, and removing language that prohibits partisan gerrymandering. Lawmakers in Albany need to pass that amendment again for it to appear on the ballot in November 2027.

Jeffrey Wice, a New York Law School professor and former counsel to the State Legislature, said such a referendum would potentially cost the political parties hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Republicans will fight Albany Democrats at the ballot box, in the courts and every step of the way to protect fair elections for New Yorkers," said state GOP chairman Ed Cox, in a statement to Newsday.
LaLota responded Tuesday: "Leaders in Maryland, Mississippi, New York, and Wisconsin should abandon their midcycle hyperpartisan gerrymandering efforts and let voters pick their politicians and not the other way around."
Garbarino said, "We shouldn’t circumvent the will of the voters by redrawing congressional lines for the third time in just a few years. My focus remains on doing the job I was elected to do and delivering for Long Islanders."