Democrat eyes New York redistricting after Supreme Court ruling

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced Monday that he will assign Rep. Joe Morelle this week to meet with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers about redistricting in the state by the middle of the decade.

Jeffries and Morelle, both New York Democrats, said in a joint statement that the effort was a response to the Supreme Court’s decision last week that weakened part of the legislature. Voting Rights ActA landmark civil rights law in 1965 that banned discrimination in voting.

The 6-3 decision hit a majority-Black and Democrat-controlled district in Louisiana. And that could lead to the elimination of similar districts in many Republican-led states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Hours after Jeffries’ announcement, the Supreme Court said it would allow its ruling in the case to take effect immediately rather than the usual 32-day period, opening the door for Louisiana to adopt a new map of congressional districts for the upcoming election. Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson strongly dissented from the decision.

“The far-right on the Supreme Court has twice paved the way for reckless partisanship, while Democrats are refusing to unilaterally dismantle,” Jeffries said. “This is just the beginning. We will sue across the country, redraw, and win. House Democrats will not allow a MAGA majority to be built on rigged maps and diminished Black voting power.”

Morelle is the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal elections, and the former majority leader of the New York State Assembly. He will meet with Hochul, also a Democrat, and other state leaders on Tuesday.

There are 26 congressional districts in New York, only three of them Report Politically with Amy Walter It is competitively priced in its current configurations. Republicans hold 7 of the state’s seats, while Democrats hold 19 seats.

Jeffries did not say how many seats Democrats would aim to win under the initiative he called the “New York Democracy Project.”

States typically redraw House district lines after a national census every 10 years.

But as Republicans weighed a tough midterm election with a razor-thin House majority to defend and strong sentiment against impeachment, President Donald Trump last summer He began calling out Texas Republicans redrawing the state’s congressional districts.

GOP-led Texas legislature acquiescesIt creates new maps that could give Republicans up to five additional seats and begins a tit-for-tat redistricting process in the middle of the decade. Democrats in California He followed through with his own efforts, and other states such as Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, and Virginia joined the fight.

Six months until Election Day, the race to pick House districts is not slowing down. On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the newly created maps. four additional GOP seats. And on the heels of the Supreme Court decision, leaders Southern states such as Alabama and Louisiana They vowed to quickly flip congressional districts.

Democrats have opposed gerrymandering a party platform in the past. introduction of legislation This would require independent commissions to redraw congressional districts. But they have also repeatedly sounded the alarm about Trump’s claims of undermining the election and have chosen to thwart GOP redistricting efforts, even if some are too slow for this year’s midterms.

Jeffries told Politico In April, it was stated that states such as Illinois, Maryland and New York could all be targets for Democrats in mid-decade redraws ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

New York has an outright ban on redistricting in the middle of the decade. The lawmaker Morelle will meet with on Tuesday is state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris. introduced legislation This would change the state constitution and pave the way for an out-of-cycle redrawing.

“As Donald Trump and his Republican allies intensify hyper-partisan redistricting efforts, I am proud to be tapped by Leader Jeffries to work with partners in New York to explore every option to protect voters in 2026, 2028 and beyond,” Morelle said in a joint statement. he said. “We will not allow these efforts to silence communities or undermine fair representation. We will fight, we will win, and we will protect the voices of voters.”