ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul is doubling down on her calls to gerrymander New York’s congressional districts while hosting Democratic reps from Texas as they resist a Trump-backed effort to redraw lines in the Lone Star State.
Hochul said Monday that New York should toss out its 2012 redistricting reforms that were aimed at removing partisan politics from congressional maps — while standing alongside Texas Democrats at the state Capitol in a photo-op her detractors ripped as “political grandstanding.”
“If that’s what’s called for, that’s what’s called for,” Hochul said, asked if Democrats are abandoning good government and good democratic principles in an effort to “save democracy.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul says she’s abandoning good government and calling on Dems to gerrymander New York’s congressional districts. Hans Pennink“Saving democracy is my top priority at any cost,” she added.
That move from Hochul would mean amending the state constitution and overturning a ballot proposal that 57% of New Yorker voters signed off on in 2014.
“This is a war. We are at war,” Hochul said.
Hochul was flanked at her state Capitol press conference by six Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives, as they abandoned the state in their own effort to try and prevent Republicans there from redrawing their own maps.
“The playing field has changed, not just for Democrats, but all Americans, and it’s time to meet them on the new field,” Texas House Democratic Vice Chair Mihaela Plesa said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott convened a special session to try to push through the new gerrymander and has threatened to try to remove the renegade Dems from office if they don’t return to the state and give up their procedural blockade.
“He’s making up some s–t, OK? He’s trying to get soundbites and he has no legal mechanism,” Texas Rep. Jolanda Jones said.
New York Republicans dismissed this visit as a political stunt.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbot convened a special session of the Lone Star state’s legislature to consider gerrymandering the congressional maps. Getty Images“Governor Hochul has described mid-decade redistricting as ‘undemocratic,’ yet her and other New York Democrats are willing to destroy democracy under the guise of ‘saving democracy,’” state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt (R-Niagara) wrote in a statement. “Voters know what this is really about – political power.”
“In her own words, Kathy Hochul is hell bent on angrily spiting the New York State Constitution, the will of New York voters, good government groups, and the courts by dismantling fair and legal district lines,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) wrote in a statement.
As Hochul and the Texas Dems were speaking, a plane carrying a banner reading “mess with Texas” circled the largely vacant state Capitol building.
Hochul called Abbott “un-American” for “rigging” Texas’ maps, as she vowed to do the same in New York.
“To subvert the will of the people, they’re hellbent on rigging the system. Rigging the system is un-American. Congressional districts are never drawn mid-decade,” Hochul said.
Her words were echoed by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx).
“In politics, there’s no such thing as non-partisan,” Heastie said, arguing that New York shouldn’t “play fair.”
“It’s difficult to ask New York, California and other Democratic-leaning states to play non-partisan while Republicans play very partisan,” he added.
But critics blasted that stance.
“The idea that New York is competing with Texas to see who can disenfranchise the most voters is repugnant to us,” John Kaehny, executive director of good government group Reinvent Albany, told The Post.
Kaehny said his group will fight any proposed changes to redistricting, even if democratic principles are no longer in vogue amongst Albany Dems.
“It’s difficult, but not that complicated,” he said.
New York’s redistricting process is largely supposed to be carried out by a commission composed of appointees from Democratic and Republican legislative leaders as well as the governor. The process was put into place following a ballot measure in 2014, where it was approved by New Yorkers with over 57% of the vote.
Hochul said she now wants to scrap that process, and give full map drawing powers back to state legislators. Democrats are just a few votes short of a supermajority in both Houses of the legislature.
Changing the constitutional language wouldn’t be immediate.
A proposal would need to be approved by two consecutive sessions of the legislature before it’s put on the ballot for voters to consider. The earliest that would occur is 2027, meaning New York Democrats could likely only rig the maps for the 2028 presidential elections.
