Hochul open to disbanding Independent Redistricting Commission

Gov. Kathy Hochul indicated a willingness to disband the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission on Monday as a nationwide redistricting battle heats up. She and her blue state counterparts are hosting Democratic Texas state lawmakers who are temporarily on the run, and Hochul said New York is exploring its ability to redistrict as early as 2028 while bypassing the commission.

A proposed amendment to the state constitution would allow the state Legislature, rather than the independent commission, to create a new congressional map for mid-decade redistricting. It would not disband the commission, which would still be expected to draw congressional maps during the normal redistricting cycle. Any attempt to disband the commission would likely upset good government groups who support a nonpartisan redistricting process. But the governor explained that at a time like this, fairness wasn’t a top priority, given Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts to benefit Republicans.

“I'm tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back. With all due respect to good government groups, politics is a political process,” Hochul said. “The reason we are able to draw the lines is because we're Democrats, because the majority of people in the state elected us to be leaders, and when we say that we can't use that power to the fullest, then we're abdicating the responsibility that we all have.”

Hochul made the comments during a press conference with Democratic members of the Texas legislature who have temporarily fled the state. Every moment the Texas lawmakers aren’t in Austin, Republicans can’t reach the necessary quorum to redraw the Lone Star State’s congressional lines and further the GOP’s advantage in the House. 

The Texas legislators didn’t share their itinerary with reporters, but said they planned to travel around the country, building a coalition of states open to counter-redistricting. Their colleagues were in Illinois yesterday with Gov. JB Pritzker for a similar purpose. While they are away, Abbott has threatened them with felony charges and removal from office. 

Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said that they’re tired of maintaining the appearance of fairness as their opponents in Congress and across the country refuse to. New York is one of a few states to use an independent redistricting commission to draw its congressional maps, but with a Democratic trifecta controlling state government and its largest city, it will remain influential in any attempt to tilt the power of Congress. Other states like California, Illinois, Maryland and Oregon also present opportunities for drawing new Democrat-friendly maps. 

New York’s constitution would need to be amended for new maps to be drawn ahead of the 2030 census, and amending the constitution is a multi-year process that wouldn’t bear fruit until 2028 at the earliest. New York’s last go-around at redistricting saw a protracted legal process where primaries weren’t held until August 2022 in a year where Republicans picked up several seats. The mental scars of that year have since healed, with members of Congress who would likely be affected by new districts seeing it as necessary to retake the House and undo some of the damage done to the state by the Trump administration and its policies. 

Rep. George Latimer, a freshman Democrat representing the 16th Congressional District, said that he and Rep. Mike Lawler’s districts are natural bottlenecks in the redistricting process, and he expected to be affected. However, he also thinks it will be worth it. 

“We just can't sit back and say, ‘Well, we're going to play by the Marquess of Queensbury rules of boxing and they're going to play by the World Wrestling Federation rules,’ where they could hit you over the head with a chair,” Latimer told City & State.