Hakeem Jeffries, House Dem leader: NY will respond ‘appropriately’ to Texas’ new district maps

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday that Democrat-controlled states will respond “appropriately” to the GOP-led Texas Legislature’s redrawing of its congressional districts.

However, Mr. Jeffries refused to spell out what that means for his home state of New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to lead efforts to have Democrats redraw the maps in the deep blue state.

“Democrats are going to respond from coast to coast and at all points in between, as has been done in California, forcefully, immediately, and appropriately, to make sure that Donald Trump cannot steal the midterm elections,” Mr. Jeffries, New York Democrat, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Republican leaders in the Texas Legislature, urged on by President Trump, passed new congressional maps last week over Democrats’ efforts to stop it.

The battle has intensified the national fight over redistricting, which traditionally has been a once-in-a-decade process that generates new maps based on the U.S. Census.

It has also triggered a redistricting arms race between red and blue states.

Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott is poised to sign the new maps into law, opening the door for Republicans to gain five more seats in the midterm elections next year when they will be defending their slim majority in the U.S. House.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democrat-led California Legislature have led their party’s pushback, passing bills last week to ask voters this fall to approve new congressional maps that would boost Democrats’ chances of picking up seats.

Meanwhile, Ms. Hochul signaled New York will not sit idly by.

“Game on,” the New York Democrat posted last week on X after the Texas House passed the new maps.

For his part, Mr. Jeffries refused to spell out how New York Democrats plan to act.

“There’s a plan to respond as appropriately in New York and in other parts of the country as the circumstances dictate,” he said Sunday.