Jeffries Pushes New York Democrats to Redraw Congressional Maps Mid-Decade

Hakeem Jeffries has turned New York into a national front in the fight for House control, sending Rep. Joe Morelle to Albany to press Gov. Kathy Hochul and top state lawmakers on a mid-decade redraw of the state’s congressional map. The push, branded the New York Democracy Project, comes as Democrats see a fresh opening after the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais weakened a key part of the Voting Rights Act and cleared the way for a majority-Black, Democrat-held district in Louisiana to be struck down immediately.

Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, met Tuesday with Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie as Jeffries’ emissary. Jeffries tied the effort directly to Republican moves in Texas and Florida, arguing that Democrats will not sit still while GOP-led states press their advantage. He has not said how many seats New York Democrats should target, but he has said they will not allow a “MAGA majority” to be built on what he described as rigged maps.

The stakes in New York are unusually high because the state’s map is already lopsided. Democrats hold 19 of New York’s 26 House seats, Republicans hold 7, and only three districts are rated competitive by Cook Political Report. One scenario under discussion would cut the GOP delegation to three seats by redrawing Long Island, Staten Island’s district held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the Hudson Valley seat held by Rep. Mike Lawler and one upstate Republican district.

The path to new lines, however, is long. New York Democrats have discussed a constitutional amendment since last summer that would let the state redraw congressional districts mid-decade, but the change would still need to pass two consecutive, separately elected legislatures and then win voter approval in a 2027 referendum. Even if Democrats clear those hurdles, the new maps would most likely not take effect until the 2028 elections, not 2026.

Albany Democrats are now talking more openly about going even further, including stripping away the state’s anti-gerrymandering rules and changing how the 2032 process would work. Mike Gianaris said the political climate has changed dramatically since the first version of the amendment was introduced, after New York Democrats tried and failed in 2021 with a narrower rewrite of the state’s redistricting language. That effort collapsed after the party underinvested and was blindsided by a late spending surge from the Conservative Party of New York State. Hochul, for her part, said she does not want to be “handcuffed in a fight for our democracy,” and embraced a full-fledged gerrymander. Morelle said voters now understand the issue as “in some ways an existential threat to the republic.”