New York Democrats are pressing forward with plans to amend the state’s redistricting process after Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision narrowing the landmark Voting Rights Act.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said in an April 29 statement on X she was working with state lawmakers “to change New York’s redistricting process so we can fight back against Washington’s attempts to rig our democracy.”
Lawmakers are considering a mid-decade constitutional amendment to alter the state redistricting method after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled 6-3 in Louisiana v. Callais to adopt a stricter standard to bring claims that electoral maps are racially discriminatory.
To alter congressional maps in New York before the 2030 census would require a constitutional amendment, which must be approved two years in a row by the state legislature before it goes to voters. Democrats have until June 4, the end of the legislative session, to approve that amendment.
Hochul and top Democrats have floated the idea of changing New York’s map-making process, which was the subject of court battles and a protracted back-and-forth between the state’s independent redistricting commission and lawmakers beginning in 2022.
New York has pointed to Republican state lawmakers in Texas who kicked off the spree of 2025 mid-decade redistricting as the reason it needs to join the fray.
Democrats further seized on the Supreme Court decision Wednesday to argue state action was necessary.
“The Supreme Court has been chipping away at our elections for years,” Hochul said. “It is clearly carrying out Donald Trump’s will with this decision.”
Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris (D) called the court ruling a “five-alarm fire” for “free and fair elections” in a statement. He accused Republican states of manipulating congressional maps for partisan advantage.
Gianaris sponsors the constitutional amendment measure (SB 8467) and has said it would be triggered only by another state engaging in mid-decade redistricting. It wouldn’t affect the 2026 midterm elections but could apply to 2028 and 2030.
“New York has the power to act in response, and we must not hesitate to stand up in defense of equal representation,” Gianaris said.
New York first tasked an independent commission with redrawing maps in 2014, seeking to create a fairer system.
But the body has clashed with state lawmakers, who rejected congressional maps the commission submitted in 2022. That sparked a years-long process to approve a new set of maps.
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie told reporters April 29 he didn’t envision lawmakers stripping the independent commission entirely, but “the makeup of it and its ability to work has to really change.”
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