This week- Mid-Decade Redistricting, Trump Asks For New Census, VRA PreClearance, Around The Nation: Past Texas re-redistricting, re-redistricting elsewhere
REDISTRICTING
“I can’t believe I’m writing about redistricting again. It’s 2025″ – veteran Albany correspondent Jimmy Vielkind of WNYC in a weekly newsletter 8/10/25.
Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris and Assemblymember Micah Lasher have introduced a constitutional amendment to permit the state legislature to redraw congressional districts in the event that another state engages in mid-decade redistricting.
The proposed amendment would permit New York to redraw congressional districts outside of the regular redistricting cycle, specifically when another state (like Texas)has done. Texas lawmakers are currently meeting in a special session but are unable to do any business since most Democrats have left the state to prevent the House from taking up the redistricting measure.
Senate Deputy Leader Gianaris defends his argument by arguing that “states must play by the same rules for a legitimate democracy to exist, and if red states are intent on corrupting the redistricting process, New York will respond.”
Co-sponsor Assemblymember Micah Lasher agues that “this constitutional amendment ensures New York will have the tools to protect our representation when other states abandon democratic norms.”
Since returning to office, President Trump and close allies have expressed interest in his running for an unconstitutional third term, even going so far as to introduce legislation amending the U.S. Constitution. Fearing their growing unpopularity and weakening electoral prospects following passage of legislation driving up the federal debt and cutting social services, Republicans, at the behest of the Trump White House, are preparing to redraw congressional districts to secure more Republican seats.
While Texans are showing up in large numbers to testify in opposition to their legislature’s proposed redistricting, Trump indicated that this Republican strategy wouldn’t stop with Texas, but would expand to other GOP run states to further add more Republican seats to secure an artificial majority.
Under New York’s constitutional amendment process, the resolution must pass both houses of the Legislature in two successive legislative sessions and then be approved by a popular vote of the general public in a statewide referendum. This amendment would position New York to respond to future partisan redistricting efforts that could help Republicans unfairly secure the majority in Congress for years to come.
CENSUS
President Trump Asks For New Census
In a social media post last Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that he was instructing the Department of Commerce to begin work on a new census that would exclude millions of people living in the United States without legal status. While he provided no details, Trump appears to be looking for new census data based on a number of data sources including the 2020 census, 2024 elections, and other data that would enable the federal government with the data to provide to the states for further re-redistricting before the 2026 or 2028 elections.
A few points to remember-
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires the “whole number of persons in each state to be counted in the census and to be used to determine how many congressional districts each state gets.
Trump’s 2020 effort to add a citizenship question to the census was derailed by the U.S. Supreme Court based on the Trump Administration’s failure to follow federal procedural rules.
The U.S. Constitution does not grant the president authority over the census. That job is up to the Congress. Congress directs and approves how the census is taken, the president, Commerce Department, and Census Bureau carry it out.
We’ll have more on this as details become more clear.
VOTING RIGHTS ACT
N.Y. Attorney General’s Office Preclearance
516 Orange County BOE- poll site locations- preliminary approval granted; also under review
521 Nassau County BOE- poll site locations- under review
701 New York City BOE- election calendar changes- under review
All submissions can be viewed at: https://nyvra-portal.ag.ny.gov/
AROUND THE NATION
Texas’s current mid-decade congressional redistricting effort has historical precedent. In 2003, Texas legislators undertook a similar mid-cycle redistricting that reshaped the state’s political landscape. Republicans, who had won control of both legislative chambers in the 2002 elections, launched an effort to replace the court-drawn congressional map from 2001. The legislature’s 2003 map significantly shifted the partisan composition of the Texas delegation, ultimately leading to a net gain of several Republican seats in Congress.
The 2003 process drew national attention when Democratic legislators dramatically fled the state in protest, attempting to deny the legislature the quorum necessary to pass the new congressional districts. In May 2003, House Democrats traveled to Ardmore, Oklahoma, and in July, Senate Democrats fled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, each time hoping their absence would stall the proceedings. Their departure halted legislative business temporarily, but after weeks of high-profile media coverage and political negotiation, enough lawmakers returned to Austin, allowing Republicans to pass the new map.
The resulting map faced significant litigation. In League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the plan but invalidated one district under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, finding it diluted Hispanic voting power. Nonetheless, the precedent established in Texas clarified that mid-decade redistricting was not prohibited by federal law and could be undertaken as a political strategy, provided the resulting maps complied with constitutional and statutory requirements. As Texas again embarks on a mid-decade redistricting, this historical context highlights both the political stakes and legal complexities involved.
Mid-Decade Redistricting: Where Else Could It Happen?
Gov. Greg Abbott put mid-decade redistricting on the agenda after Trump suggested a redraw and after a Trump-aligned DOJ letter questioned the legality of four existing districts. Texas’s special session, which convened on July 21 in part to redraw the congressional map, set off a chain reaction among states looking to counter what some say is an “unusual move,” although not unprecedented. On July 30, House Republicans released a draft map that could flip the state’s delegation from 25-13 to roughly 30-8 in the GOP’s favor. Texas Democrats have fled the state to deny their Republican counterparts a quorum, and as a result, several states have openly pondered their own mid-decade redistricting either to counter Texas or in support of Republicans.
Democratic-led states weighing “counter-maps”
California: Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’ll ask voters in a special November election to approve a new congressional map and “pause” the CA Citizens Redistricting Commission.
Illinois: Gov. J.B. Pritzker told reporters a pro-Democratic redraw is “on the table” if Texas proceeds.
Maryland: Del. David Moon (D) plans a bill that would automatically reopen Maryland’s map if any other state redraws mid-cycle; Senate leaders say “nothing is off the table.”
New Jersey: Governor Phil Murphy has stated that he will not rule out mid-decade redistricting, despite the state constitution explicitly prohibiting it.
GOP-controlled states considering Pro-Republican redraws
Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida should “consider” a mid-cycle overhaul because of rapid growth causing “malapportionment” in current districts.
Indiana: Vice President JD Vance visited state leaders in Indianapolis last week to urge them to redraw the state’s congressional district. No word on whether anything will happen there.
Missouri: Gov. Mike Kehoe and Senate leaders signal a special session is “likely” to seek a 7-1 GOP map targeting Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s seat.
Indiana: Vice President J.D. Vance met with Gov. Mike Braun as the Trump White House urged a redraw. Braun hasn’t ruled out a special session, but it is not clear if a map redraw would add any seats to the U.S. House.
Other Considerations
Ohio is scheduled for a mid-decade redraw due to unrelated constitutional reasons. The results of the map redraw could impact the final electoral map for 2026. Two lawsuits filed July 8-9 by a bipartisan business coalition and the Elias Law Group ask a three-judge panel (created by a 2011 GOP statute) to strike down Wisconsin’s 6-2 GOP congressional map as an “anti-competitive gerrymander.” If the panel rules for plaintiffs, the liberal-leaning state Supreme Court would have final say before 2026.
Bottom line: Texas has opened the door, but every potential state redraw faces its own legal guardrails, ballot-measure requirements on the left, “fair district” clauses or court risk on the right, and, in Wisconsin’s case, a brand-new judicial pathway. Whether any of these states actually redraw before the 2026 midterms will turn on those constraints as much as on raw political appetite.
INSTITUTE RESOURCES
The New York Elections, Census and Redistricting Institute has archived many resources for the public to view on our Digital Commons Page.
Our Redistricting Resources page contains resources on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act. You can access the page here: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/redistricting_resources/
Archived Updates can be accessed here: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/redistricting_roundtable_updates/
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The N.Y. Elections, Census & Redistricting Institute is supported by grants from the New York Community Trust, New York Census Equity Fund and the New York City Council. This report was prepared by Jeff Wice and Michelle Davis of Redistricting Online, our partner website at www.redistrictingonling.org