New York's Democrat Governor, Kathy Hochul, clearly received California Gov. Gavin Newsom's redistricting talking points, loud and clear. During an interview on "Fox News Sunday" with Shannon Bream, she angrily rambled about Trump and Texas and the Epstein files while ignoring two key facts: that her state's constitution doesn't allow mid-decade redistricting, and that courts have already found her administration to have engaged in unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering in redistricting after the 2020 census.
Like Newsom, Hochul is seeking to redraw her state's congressional maps for the 2026 election, state constitution be damned.
When Bream asked how she planned to deal with the pesky issue of the New York state constitution, Hochul replied:
You know what, Shannon? These times call for fighting fire with fire. We didn't ask for this fight. I'm busy governing the State of New York, focusing on public safety and affordability. But why are we here today?
Because Donald Trump looked at the polls for next year, and they realized, based on their failed policies, which are hurting New Yorkers and people all across this country -- the tariffs did not create jobs. They now have 2 million people more — 2 billion more on unemployment....
Two billion more on unemployment? She's focused on public safety and affordability? Anyway, Hochul then babbled about Medicaid and parents being worried about back-to-school prices and challenging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to a "Texas stand-down." But she didn't answer the question, so Bream pressed her. Hochul then replied:
"We'll put it to the people. We amend constitutions. We just did it a few years ago. We can put it to the people."
Problem is, Kathy, y'all have put it to the people repeatedly, and the people have repeatedly expressed their desire to have legislators far away from drawing the districts. As Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said during the segment:
"The voters certified this at the ballot box. They wanted an independent redistricting commission. They do not want partisan gerrymandering, and they do not want it done in a mid-decade redistricting. The Democrats who oftentimes lecture everybody about upholding democracy should abide by the state constitution."
That ballot measure, 2014's Question 1, also made partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional in New York.
Years later, as the 2020 census approached (and knowing they'd likely lose a House seat), New York Democrats found what they thought was a loophole in that amendment related to what would happen if the IRC failed to submit redistricting maps to the legislature for final approval. So they placed a second question on the ballot, asking voters to allow the legislature to create the maps if the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) failed to complete its duty. Voters said no.
So what did New York's Democrat legislators do then? Just took the language of the rejected ballot measure and inserted it into a bill, then passed that.
Then, completely coincidentally, we're sure, the IRC then reached a "stalemate" and failed to submit new maps. The legislature thought that meant they could just draw maps themselves, and quickly created and passed maps that were overtly partisan.
So partisan that even the New York Times called them out on it.
"[Rep. Jerry] Nadler’s new district is almost comically contorted, stretching 15 miles through 15 different State Assembly districts, from his longtime base on the Upper West Side to Brooklyn, where it takes in strips of Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill and all of Prospect Park, Borough Park and Bensonhurst."
Litigation ensued, and eventually, a special master was appointed to draw a temporary map for the 2022 election cycle. The IRC then did its job and created maps for the 2024 election.
According to Hochul, though, her administration and party followed the rules.
"Well, we followed the rules, and I want to call out the hypocrisy of the Republicans who are now whining about the fact that we're doing something in New York. Where was the outrage when Donald Trump told Texas to just go find five seats for him? Come on. People aren't going to buy this."
No, what we're not buying is your line. Also, note the "just go find five seats for him" language, which is a call to the subconscious to equate the GOP effort with Trump's call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election and plant the thought that redistricting in Texas is a Republican effort to "steal" the 2026 election.
And the New York State Court of Appeals didn't buy Hochul's line back in 2022, either. In the opinion, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote:
“A stalemate within the IRC resulted in a breakdown in the mandatory process for submission of electoral maps to the legislature. The legislature responded by creating and enacting maps in a nontransparent manner controlled exclusively by the dominant political party — doing exactly what they would have done had the 2014 constitutional reforms never been passed.
"[T]he enactment of the congressional and senate maps by the legislature was procedurally unconstitutional, and the congressional map is also substantively unconstitutional as drawn with impermissible partisan purpose."
What's most surprising about this entire redistricting episode is that Hochul, Newsom, and Illinois' JB Pritzker are being called out by members of their own party and by the lapdog media as hypocrites and liars.
DIVE DEEPER: JB Pritzker Called Out by Liberal Media for Hypocrisy on Redistricting
Watch Hochul's entire segment with Shannon Bream below. (Yes, that's Texas Gov. Abbott in the thumbnail, but the segment also includes Hochul and Lawler.)
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