Kathy Hochul says NY 'exploring every option to redraw our state congressional lines' to counteract Texas' new map

New York Governor Kathy Hochul hosted Texas Democrat lawmakers at the State Capitol on Wednesday, after the lawmakers fled their state in order to deny Republican lawmakers the quorum needed to pass a redistricting proposal. During her speech, Hochul said that she and other New York lawmakers were exploring options to conduct redistricting in the state to counteract redistricting in Texas.

"I have a news flash for Republicans in Texas. This is no longer the Wild West. We're not going to tolerate our democracy being stolen in a modern-day stagecoach heist by a bunch of law-breaking cowboys. Americans don't want a system that's stacked against them. They believe in fairness; it's fundamental. And I'll tell you this: they're done with the chaos, they're done with the cruelty, and I would say they're ready to vote Republicans out of power in Washington, certainly in the upcoming 2026 elections."

"Republicans know this. They've seen the polls. They know they're sliding downhill because Americans are rejecting their policies, so this is why they're fighting. They know they'll lose the elections, but to subvert the will of the people, they're hell bent on rigging the system.”

She said that "rigging the system is un-American," and Congressional districts "are never redrawn mid-decade," but "here they are flagrantly breaking the rules so they can hold onto power, and with that power they’re going to inflict even more pain, and they’d rather eliminate fairness in the system than to proceed knowing they’re going to lose. They’d rather silence voters than serve them."

Hochul later added, "what Texas and Republican states are doing at the direction of Donald Trump, I say, is nothing short of a legal insurrection against our Capital—legal meaning they’re using the legal process, does not mean it’s legal, and it must be stopped. If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us no choice, we must do the same. There's a phrase, ‘you have to fight fire with fire.’ That is a true statement of how we're feeling right now.

"And as I've said, another overused but applicable phrase, ‘all is fair in love and war’ — that's why I'm exploring with our leaders every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible.”