ALBANY, New York — Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is not ruling out a mid-decade redrawing of New York’s House lines, as deep red Texas and Ohio move to reshape their maps through redistricting.
“All’s fair in love and war. We’re following the rules. We do redistricting every 10 years,” Hochul said during an unrelated event Thursday in Buffalo. “But if there’s other states violating the rules and are trying to give themselves an advantage, all I’ll say is, I’m going to look at it closely with Hakeem Jeffries.”
The governor’s comments are her first since Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced a special session of the Texas Legislature to focus on redistricting. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ team spoke with Hochul’s office about redistricting earlier this month following Abbott’s announcement, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversation, granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.
“I’m not surprised that they’re trying to break the rules to get an advantage,” Hochul added. “But that’s undemocratic, and not only are we calling them out, we’re also going to see what our options are.”
Jeffries, in a podcast interview Monday, said Democrats should keep Republicans politically “on the run.”
“I’m in conversation with members of the New York delegation, as well as the governor, 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,” Jeffries said. “And every single state is going to have to do the same thing because Republicans are desperate.”
The potential tit-for-tat move by blue New York would be a heavy lift before the midterm elections — and would almost certainly be subject to legal challenges. The state’s constitution stipulates redistricting may only be done once a decade and should be based on the most recent census data.
The governor’s remarks drew a rebuke from statehouse Republicans.
“Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats are experts at rigging the rules to protect their power and silence voters,” state Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt said.
A speedy redistricting of New York’s House lines would be an unlikely bank shot.
Legal challenges forced New York’s redistricting commission to redraw the state’s House map, which was finalized in early 2024. A court order following another legal challenge to the existing House map could once again reopen that process. But such a development would require an extremely tight turnaround to redraw the map ahead of the 2026 elections.
“Right now, will Texas redraw its map, and will California then follow? Expect the unexpected,” said Jeff Wice, a redistricting expert and professor at New York Law School. “We’re really in uncharted waters.”
Hochul’s comments Thursday underscore the stakes of the coming elections in the narrowly divided House. Despite its Democratic domination, New York is home to several swing seats that could determine control of the chamber — and the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term.
Hochul is also echoing the comments from other blue state governors who have threatened their own retaliatory redistricting efforts. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has raised the possibility of throwing out his state’s maps and drawing boundaries to aid Democratic chances next year. Former President Barack Obama will headline a fundraiser for a Democratic redistricting group in response to the red states’ efforts.
Hochul’s political allies, though, believe there is little upside to drawing new lines.
“I understand those in New York who are watching what’s happening in Texas and Ohio want to offset their unfair advantage,” New York Democratic Chair Jay Jacobs told POLITICO earlier this week. “But I think we need to be careful about democracy, because I’m finding it to be pretty fragile at this time in our history.”
Jacobs added the state constitution ties his party’s hands.
“You don’t change the rules of the game to your advantage just because you can,” Jacobs said. “The constitution seems pretty clear that this redistricting process should be done every 10 years. I don’t know where someone could interpret it as something you can do every two years.”
