New York Democratic lawmakers formally introduced a constitutional amendment Monday that would strip the state’s explicit prohibition on partisan gerrymandering, allowing Democrats to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2028 elections in a bid to flip up to four Republican-held House seats.
The amendment, introduced in the state Legislature on June 2, passed its first chamber vote and is expected to clear both chambers by Thursday. It must pass two consecutive legislative sessions before going to voters as a ballot referendum, putting a final vote to New Yorkers in 2027. If approved, Democrats could redraw congressional lines before the 2028 cycle.
The proposal goes beyond a simple adjustment to district lines. It removes a standing ban on drawing maps that favor one political party over another. It also eliminates the supermajority threshold previously required for the Legislature to adopt maps submitted by the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission, replacing it with a simple majority vote. And it permits mid-decade redistricting even before an official U.S. Census count.
New York has 26 congressional seats. Republicans currently hold seven of them, including one in Staten Island and two in competitive Long Island districts. Democratic officials and outside experts say the new rules, if enacted, could shift as many as four of those seats into Democratic hands.
Gov. Kathy Hochul framed the push as a defensive response to Republican redistricting efforts in other states. “This will give New Yorkers the power to fight back against attempts by Donald Trump and his allies to rig our elections,” Hochul said in a statement. “As Republicans across the country redraw maps to shield themselves from accountability, it’s more important than ever that New Yorkers have a voice in the process.”
The national redistricting fight escalated last summer when Texas redrew its congressional maps at the urging of President Donald Trump, who urged Republican-led states to use every available tool to protect the party’s narrow House majority heading into the midterms. Democratic leaders, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, pledged to respond in kind in states where their party controls the levers of government.
New York Republicans drew a sharp line against the measure Monday.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican representing a competitive district in the Hudson Valley, accused Democrats of bad faith. “New York Democrats, who proclaim to want to protect democracy, they only protect it when it’s convenient, when it suits their purpose, when it helps them gain power,” Lawler said. “They don’t care one iota about our elections, they don’t care one iota about the integrity of our elections when it doesn’t serve their purpose.”
State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, a Democrat, defended the timeline. “We want to give a range of possibilities to the legislature to consider next year for second passage,” he said.
The amendment still maintains language protecting minority communities from vote dilution, according to the bill’s text and Jeffrey Wice, a redistricting expert at New York Law School. But it removes the separate prohibition on partisan favoritism that previously constrained map-drawers in either direction.
Democrats hold majorities in both the state Assembly and the state Senate, as well as the governorship, giving the party full control over the amendment’s path to the ballot. The Legislature faces a Thursday deadline to complete the first passage before the current session ends.
