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Across the country, Democrats have been ardently defending their gerrymandering moves, claiming they’re merely countering Republican actions, particularly those seen in Texas. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul has been vocal about her intent to follow suit, seemingly overlooking her active involvement in several initiatives aimed at bypassing the state’s Constitution to significantly diminish GOP influence through redistricting.
This strategic maneuvering took root in early 2021, when Democrats placed three “election reform” propositions on the November ballot. A key element of these measures was to undermine the Independent Redistricting Commission, established by voters in 2014, empowering the ruling party to unilaterally redraw district maps following the 2020 Census.
However, New York’s predominantly Democratic electorate rebuffed all three proposals by substantial margins.
Undeterred, the Democratic-majority Legislature proceeded to pass legislation to effectively render the commission powerless, a move Governor Hochul endorsed without hesitation.
Following this, Democrats attempted to obstruct the commission’s operations and ultimately disregarded its recommendations. Instead, the legislative majority implemented a district map that aimed to slash the GOP’s representation in the House from six seats to a mere three.
Republicans sued and won in state court; the judge appointed a special master to draw up a truly fair map, and the GOP wound up winning eight seats that November.
Cue the Democratic campaign to stack the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to ensure that wouldn’t happen again: This is why the state Senate rejected respected Democratic Judge Hector LaSalle in 2023, a rank assassination that prompted Hochul to nominate reliable lefty Rowan Wilson.
Lo and behold, when Democrats launched yet another gerrymander drive in 2024, Republicans again sued — only to lose in the end, thanks to Wilson’s vote.
Still, Dems were cautious, tweaking the map only slightly to their advantage, which proved enough to wipe out half the GOP’s 2022 gains.
But Democrats weren’t done: They set out this year to use the state courts to eliminate New York City’s one Republican-leaning House district, held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis — and were foiled only when the US Supreme Court put a stop to it.
This is when President Donald Trump, who doesn’t miss much in that goes on in his native state, began pushing Republican states to fight back.
Now Hochul and her party are vowing to do it again, though only in time for the 2028 elections; this will be their fourth bid at the “mid-decade redistricting” game that Democrats started condemning (and then doing) all across the country this year.
One more time: New York voters chose nonpartisan redistricting back in 2014; ever since the reform should have kicked in after the 2020 Census, Democrats have worked nonstop to instead seize control to boost their own partisan power, leaving no dirty trick untried.
And every New York Democratic pol now bewailing Republican moves in other states, from Hochul to Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, went along with it — so spare us the moral lectures.