Texas wants to redraw its congressional lines before the midterms. Will NY follow suit?

WASHINGTON — As Texas’ Republican-led state legislature races to approve a new congressional map that carves out more GOP-friendly congressional districts ahead of next year’s midterm elections, New York and other Democrat-led states are taking steps to counter President Donald Trump’s push to shore up his party's future congressional majorities.

Last week, a pair of state Democratic lawmakers filed a bill in Albany that would allow New York to redraw its congressional district lines before the traditional 10-year time frame, and Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to "fight hard" and weigh the state’s options in response to Texas’ efforts to tip the scales toward a larger GOP majority in the U.S. House.

The measure, filed by Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) and Assemb. Micah Lasher (D-Manhattan), came a day before Texas Republicans released a proposed new congressional map that would give Republicans the opportunity to pick up five U.S. House seats next year.

"States must play by the same rules for a legitimate democracy to exist, and if red states are intent on corrupting the redistricting process, New York will respond," Gianaris said in a statement announcing the bill.

Lasher, in a statement, said: "While New York has committed to fair, independent redistricting, we cannot allow other states to game the system while we remain sidelined."

Texas’ new congressional map must still be approved by the state legislature, but its Republican majority and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott are on board, prompting national Democrats to examine their redistricting options as Trump has publicly urged other Republican-led states to follow Texas’ lead.

"We’re going to get another three or four or five in addition, but Texas would be the biggest one," Trump told reporters at the White House on July 15 when asked about his push to redraw congressional lines.

Midterm elections historically favor the party not in control of the White House, spurring hopes among national Democrats that the party can win back control of the House in 2026 and provide a check against Trump, who now enjoys majorities in both chambers of Congress, and a Supreme Court stacked with three of his appointees.

Republican leaders in Florida, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio are all reportedly weighing redistricting ahead of the midterms. In response, the Democratic governors of California, New Jersey, Maryland, and Illinois have also said they are exploring the possibility of moving up their redistricting timelines which are historically tied to the U.S. Census conducted every 10 years.

Hochul, appearing on NY1 Wednesday, said she is "looking at all of our options — we do have options."

"I've had many conversations at high levels and I'll be announcing what our plans are going forward, but we're not going to sit down and just take this, that's not who we are," Hochul said. "We have to fight back, we have to fight back hard, and, as I've said, all is fair in love and war. You want to play by new rules, then we'll get new rules."

In New York, congressional districts are drawn up by the 10-member Independent Redistricting Commission, a bipartisan panel of political appointees established in 2014 that recommends a new map following the release of the U.S. Census. The proposed map must be approved by a supermajority of the state legislature, according to the commission’s website.

The measure filed by Gianaris and Lasher proposes a state constitutional amendment that would allow New York "to redraw congressional districts outside of the regular redistricting cycle, specifically when another state has already done so."

While Texas lawmakers are expected to pass their new map in the coming weeks, an amendment to New York’s state Constitution as proposed by Gianaris and Lasher would likely not pass before the midterm elections. The measure filed by both lawmakers must pass both houses of the state Legislature for two successive sessions, and be approved by a majority of state voters in a statewide referendum, meaning the earliest voters could decide on the amendment is 2027.

Asked if Hochul has concerns that the state constitutional amendment process won't allow New York to move as quickly with redistricting compared with Texas and other red states, Hochul’s office in an email to Newsday said "she is exploring all options at the moment," but did not elaborate on those options.

Jeffrey Wice, director of the New York Elections, Census and Redistricting Institute at New York Law School, told Newsday in a phone interview a court could order the legislature "to go back to work" and bypass the redistricting commission to pass a new map, but a lawsuit would need to be filed alleging the current map is unconstitutional.

"To pass a new map without a constitutional amendment itself in New York would require somebody to bring a completely new lawsuit, arguing or alleging that the current map violates some other provision of the Constitution," Wice said. "Perhaps that the map doesn't have enough compact districts, or that the map unnecessarily divides too many counties or towns or cities, but no one's done that, and the likelihood of it happening is pretty far-fetched at this point."

Under the state’s current congressional map, Democrats hold a 19-7 majority over Republicans.

State Republicans have criticized talk of an earlier redistricting process. State GOP Chairman Ed Cox in a statement said, "New York's State Constitution could not be more clear: mid-decade redistricting is illegal. Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats are again ignoring the law as they telegraph their latest attempt to rig our elections." 

In Texas, Republicans have defended their effort, saying the proposed new districts unite certain communities and neighborhoods that are currently separated, but state Democrats contend the districts were shaped to dilute the political power of Democrat-majority districts. Texas Democratic legislators left the state Sunday so there wouldn't be a quorum to vote on new maps.

Republicans currently have a razor-thin majority in the U.S. House with 219 Republicans to 212 Democrats — there are three Democratic vacancies due to deaths but Democrats are expected to retain those seats when special elections are held in the fall, which will further narrow the GOP edge.

The new Texas map and any other changes to red-state maps could derail House Democrats’ efforts to ride a midterm wave back to majority status. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) met with Texas lawmakers in Austin on Thursday to discuss Democrats’ response, and has said he has also been in touch with Hochul and New York’s congressional delegation "to explore what, if anything else, can be done to ensure that New York does its part with respect to fair maps across the country."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.