New York Governor Kathy Hochul is defending her administration’s push to redraw the state’s congressional maps for the 2026 election, despite constitutional restrictions and prior court rulings against similar actions.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream, Hochul was asked how she planned to proceed given that the New York State Constitution prohibits mid-decade redistricting and the courts have already found her administration engaged in unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering after the 2020 census.
“You know what, Shannon? These times call for fighting fire with fire. We didn’t ask for this fight. I’m busy governing the State of New York, focusing on public safety and affordability,” Hochul said, before criticizing President Donald Trump and raising unrelated topics such as Texas and the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related files.
Bream noted that voters have repeatedly rejected proposals to give lawmakers more control over drawing congressional maps.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) reinforced that point, stating, “The voters certified this at the ballot box. They wanted an independent redistricting commission. They do not want partisan gerrymandering, and they do not want it done in a mid-decade redistricting. The Democrats who oftentimes lecture everybody about upholding democracy should abide by the state constitution.”
In 2014, voters approved Question 1, which created the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) and barred partisan gerrymandering.
Anticipating the possibility of losing a congressional seat after the 2020 census, Democrats placed another question on the ballot in 2021 seeking to allow the legislature to draw maps if the IRC failed to do so. Voters rejected that measure.
Despite the rejection, the legislature later passed a bill incorporating language from the failed ballot measure.
When the IRC deadlocked and did not submit maps, lawmakers drew their own districts.
These maps were criticized as overtly partisan, with one example — Rep. Jerry Nadler’s district — stretching 15 miles through 15 different state assembly districts in a configuration described by the New York Times as “almost comically contorted.”
Legal challenges followed, and the New York Court of Appeals struck down the maps. In 2022, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote in the majority opinion:
“A stalemate within the IRC resulted in a breakdown in the mandatory process for submission of electoral maps to the legislature. The legislature responded by creating and enacting maps in a nontransparent manner controlled exclusively by the dominant political party — doing exactly what they would have done had the 2014 constitutional reforms never been passed. The enactment of the congressional and senate maps by the legislature was procedurally unconstitutional, and the congressional map is also substantively unconstitutional as drawn with impermissible partisan purpose.”
A court-appointed special master drew temporary maps for the 2022 election, and the IRC later approved maps for the 2024 cycle.
Hochul has defended her administration’s actions, saying, “We followed the rules, and I want to call out the hypocrisy of the Republicans who are now whining about the fact that we’re doing something in New York. Where was the outrage when Donald Trump told Texas to just go find five seats for him? Come on. People aren’t going to buy this.”
Her remarks have drawn comparisons to similar efforts in other Democrat-led states, including California and Illinois, and have been criticized by both political opponents and members of her own party.
