Kathy Hochul Brags Dems ‘Always Follow the Rules’ — Until This Whole Texas Redistricting Thing
New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) claimed Democrats “always follow the rules,” but Republican efforts to redraw congressional maps is a bridge too far.
Hochul joined MSNBC’s The Weeknight on Thursday where she vowed to “fight fire with fire” against redistricting efforts.
A number of state lawmakers recently fled Texas for Illinois to stall a vote on redrawing congressional maps, earning swift backlash from the state’s Republicans. Sen. John Cornyn (D-TX) even claimed the FBI agreed to track down the lawmakers.
Hochul declared she’ll do everything in her power to fight redistricting efforts if they hit New York, even changing the state’s Constitution.
“If we don’t fight for our democracy, we’re doomed to lose it. That’s how high the stakes are right now. And New York State, our normal redistricting, the next election would occur in 2032,” she said. “I’m going to do whatever I can to literally change the constitution of New York state to allow us to have an election with the lines that we draw. If this is how they’re going to play the game, we’re going to fight fire with fire.”
The governor claimed Democrats always “follow the rules,” but now the gloves are off.
“I didn’t want to take on this fight. I’ve always followed the rules, Democrats always follow the rules. Well, when they’re willing to do this to subvert our democracy, shame on us if we don’t stand up,” she said. “So I will get it done in 2028 if necessary, if they continue down this path. And of course they can stop… They can stop right now and we’ll stand down as well. But until then, we’re not going to be on the sidelines.”
Hochul claimed Republicans are in a “panic” and fear being “obliterated” in upcoming elections.
“You know why they undertook this whole exercise? I’m convinced because they saw the polling for next year and they’re going to be obliterated next year because of all the Trump policies that are hurting New Yorkers in Republican districts as well. So they saw this, they said they’re in a panic,” she said. “What can we do? Well, you know what? Let’s change the rules in the middle of the game and see if anybody tries to stop us.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
