Congressman Joe Morrell (D-New York) looks on during a press conference on the SAVE America Act at the U.S. Capitol on March 17, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Heather Deal | Getty Images
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced Monday that he will send U.S. Rep. Joe Morrell this week to meet with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislators about redistricting in the middle of the decade.
Jeffries and Morrell, both New York Democrats, said in a joint statement that the effort is a response to last week’s Supreme Court decision weakening parts of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 civil rights law that prohibits discrimination in voting. The 6-3 ruling struck a majority-black Democratic district in Louisiana. And there is a possibility that similar districts will be abolished in multiple Republican-led states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“Far-right extremists on the Supreme Court have twice recklessly paved the way for partisan gerrymandering, and Democrats refuse to unilaterally disarm them,” Jeffries said. “This is just the beginning. Across the country, we will litigate, redraw, and win. House Democrats will not allow a MAGA majority to be built on fraudulent maps and dilution of Black voting power.”
Morrell is the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which oversees federal elections, and is a former New York state majority leader. He is scheduled to meet with fellow Democrat Hochul and other state leaders on Tuesday.
New York has 26 Congressional districts, but only three of them are rated competitive in their current configuration by the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. Republicans hold 10 of the state seats, while Democrats hold 16.
Jeffries did not say how many seats Democrats would seek to win under an initiative he called the New York Democracy Project.
States typically redraw their congressional district lines after the census every 10 years.
However, with Republicans assessing the difficult midterm elections, a slim House majority to protect, and growing anti-incumbency sentiment, President Donald Trump last summer began urging the Texas Republican Party to redraw the state’s House districts.
The Republican-led Texas Legislature acquiesced, drawing new maps that would give Republicans an additional five seats and launching retaliatory redistricting efforts in mid-2010. California Democrats followed suit with their own efforts, and other states including Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia have joined the fray.
With six months left until Election Day, the fight for gerrymandered congressional districts continues unabated. On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a newly drawn map that could increase the number of Republican seats by up to four seats. And immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision, leaders of southern states such as Alabama and Louisiana vowed to quickly redraw their congressional districts.
Democrats have opposed gerrymandering their party platform in the past and introduced legislation that would require independent commissions to redraw congressional districts. But they have also repeatedly sounded the alarm about President Trump’s alleged attempts to undermine the election, and are choosing to try to negate Republican redistricting efforts, even though they may be too late for this year’s midterm elections.
Jeffries told Politico in April that states such as Illinois, Maryland and New York could all be targets for Democrats in mid-decade elections leading up to the 2028 presidential election.
New York state explicitly prohibits redistricting in the middle of this decade. State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, one of the lawmakers Morrell plans to talk to Tuesday, has introduced a bill that would amend the state constitution and pave the way for an off-cycle reinstatement bill.
“I am proud to have been commissioned by Leader Jeffries to work with our partners in New York to explore all options to protect voters in 2026, 2028 and beyond, as Donald Trump and his Republican allies ramp up their hyper-partisan redistricting efforts,” Morrell said in a joint statement. “We will not tolerate these efforts to silence our communities or undermine fair representation. We will fight, we will win, and we will protect the voices of our constituents.”
