The survival of our democracy depends on an informed and empowered electorate, a principle that Citizens Union has championed for over a century. I joined together with CU more than a decade ago to support an amendment to New York State’s constitution aimed at delivering a nonpartisan process for drawing the lines of our congressional and legislative districts, to ensure that voters’ could choose their representatives, and not the other way around.
Today, however, we have entered a precarious moment, nationally, in which the manipulation of electoral maps, in an arms race that is being driven and dominated by Donald Trump’s Republican Party, threatens to devalue the power of the vote and turn New York’s push for good government against us.
As a lifelong New Yorker who has dedicated my life to public service – working at all three levels of government and representing the 69th Assembly District in the New York State Assembly – I have always championed the rule of law and the power of our democracy. But today we are facing a new and dangerous frontier: the weaponization of mid-decade redistricting.
Historically, redistricting was a once-a-decade process. With Donald Trump in office, that norm has been shattered. We have watched Trump pressure governors in states like Texas and Georgia to manufacture electoral advantage by rigging maps years before the next census. In states like Missouri, Ohio, and Florida, partisan actors are already moving to redraw lines to cement one-party control for the next decade.
If red states are allowed to unilaterally rig the national landscape while blue states adhere to a different set of rules, we risk the creation of a Russian-style parliament — elections in name only, with preordained results. Our opponents are tearing the rulebook apart. We have no choice but to fight fire with fire.
This is why I introduced an amendment to our state constitution to meet this crisis we face with a dose of necessary realism, and why I was thrilled to see a redistricting amendment authorizing New York to engage in mid-decade redistricting pass both chambers at the end of session on June 3rd. As the process dictates, once it is signed by the Governor it will have to pass again next session and then will be delivered directly to the voters.
Some have argued that this jeopardizes the moral high ground achieved in 2014 with enactment of independent redistricting in New York. I would respond that the moral high ground on the current battlefield exists in preserving competition for control of Congress, even if there is less competition over individual seats here in New York. We are in a fight to preserve the power of voters, and we cannot unilaterally disarm.
Fight fire with fire, we must. And then we must seek permanent, national disarmament. One of my top priorities upon entering Congress will be to lead the charge for a comprehensive federal ban on partisan gerrymandering.
We must pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act to reinstitute and codify protections of the original Voting Rights Act and protect the voices of minority communities, as well as the Freedom to Vote Act, to expand access to the ballot box. We must return to a system where communities remain whole, where maps are drawn by independent bodies, and where voters have a genuine opportunity to choose both their representatives and who controls Congress.
The strategy is clear: we must win the redistricting arms race today so that we have the legislative power to end it forever. I am running for Congress because I have the experience to navigate these complex legislative battles and the resolve to ensure New York remains a bulwark for democracy. Together, we can restore a government that is truly of, by, and for the people.