New York Democrats seeking to redraw congressional maps in their favor announced plans Wednesday to advance two constitutional amendments that would allow them to do so next month, according to Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie.
The window has closed for legislators to alter their maps before this year’s midterm elections and join the flurry of mid-decade redistricting Republicans started in Texas. But the dual-track plan will begin the process to put new maps in place before the 2028 election.
The push to redraw maps has been expected to pass both legislative chambers before lawmakers leave the state Capitol on June 4. Heastie said Wednesday the redistricting changes will proceed as two separate amendment measures.
The first would allow for mid-decade redistricting under the state constitution, which currently allows maps to be redrawn only after the decennial census or by court order, and the other would alter the composition of the New York independent redistricting commission.
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. Democrats rejected congressional district lines submitted by the commission in 2022, sparking a protracted court battle.
Heastie and other top New York Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep.
“New York can’t be asked to play by a different set of rules than other states are, and even more aggressively the Republican-dominated states,” Heastie said in a news conference Wednesday.
Constitutional amendments must pass both houses of the legislature and be approved by Hochul in two consecutive sessions before voters see them on the ballot.