Jeffries Calls On Half-Dozen Democratic States To Start 'Aggressive' Redistricting

Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times,

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Friday named six Democratic states he wants to join New York in pursuing mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2028 election—a longer-term play as both parties have raced to redraw maps before the November 2026 midterms.

“It’s going to be incredibly important that states like New York, New Jersey, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Maryland and Illinois are aggressive in moving forward to ensure that there’s a fair national map, particularly in light of what the Supreme Court’s attack on the Voting Rights Act has unleashed,” Jeffries said in an interview with CNN published on May 8.

Congressional maps are slated to be redrawn after the next census in 2030.

 

The comments came the same day that the Virginia Supreme Court voided an April referendum that would have allowed state Democrats to redraw Virginia’s congressional map ahead of the November midterms. Democrats had said the new Virginia map could result in their having 10 congressional seats to only one for Republicans. Virginia now has six Democratic members of Congress and five Republicans.

 

Jeffries called the Virginia ruling “unprecedented” and “undemocratic” in a statement released by his office on Friday.

“Over three million Virginia citizens cast their votes in a free and fair election, yet the State Supreme Court has chosen to invalidate their voice, disenfranchise them and violate their due process rights,” Jeffries said in the statement.

He added, “We are exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision. No matter what it takes, House Democrats will win in November so we can help rescue this nation from the extremism being unleashed by Donald Trump and Republicans.”

Despite the setback, Jeffries told CNN that Democrats could still flip “at least two” GOP-held seats in Virginia under the existing congressional map.

“If the current map holds in Virginia, we will at minimum flip two seats. And we’re exploring other options given how unpopular the policies of the Republican party have been,” Jeffries told CNN.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that Louisiana’s congressional map was unconstitutional because race was the predominant factor in drawing the lines, a decision that limits redistricting based on race. Democrats and voting rights advocates say the decision guts the Voting Rights Act and gives Republican-led states grounds to revisit majority-minority districts.

Republicans hailed the ruling. Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton said on May 6 that the Supreme Court had “opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind.” He noted that the court had also indicated that “states can redistrict based off partisan politics” as the state began redrawing its districts.

Republican-led states have moved quickly.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on May 7 signed a new congressional map that splits Memphis into three districts and will probably eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held congressional seat. The Tennessee General Assembly first passed a measure repealing a state law that had previously prohibited mid-decade redistricting.

Republicans have also moved this year to redraw congressional maps in Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, and Florida. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 4 signed a new map that could add up to four Republican-leaning seats to that state’s congressional delegation.

Democrats have countered with their own mid-decade redraws in California and the now-voided Virginia attempt. On May 4, Jeffries launched what he calls the New York Democracy Project, an effort to recruit New York into the mid-decade redistricting fight.

Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), dispatched to Albany by Jeffries, pressed New York Democratic leaders to advance a constitutional amendment enabling mid-decade redistricting before the legislature adjourns the first week of June. A New York constitutional change would require passage by two consecutive legislative sessions before going to voters for ratification.

Jeffries on Monday told House Democrats in a Dear Colleague letter that he will host a caucus-wide briefing on Thursday with Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, to discuss what he called “the largest voter protection effort in modern American history.”

National Republican Redistricting Trust Executive Director Adam Kincaid told The Epoch Times this past week that the broader push amounted to “Hochul and Jeffries’s annual attempt to illegally gerrymander New York and roll back the state’s twice-voter-approved redistricting commission.”