Fact-checking New York redistricting claims from both parties

Debunking claims from Democrats and Republicans on redistricting.

Good afternoon — it’s Monday and Hip Hop Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• Democrats and Republicans have tried to rewrite history on New York’s redistricting process in recent days.

• I fact-checked five of the top claims I’ve seen from elected officials on both sides of the aisle for today’s CapCon.

• This Week in New York History: The Singer sewing machine, Saratoga Race Course and the first-ever steamboat

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Janet DiFiore, Rowan Wilson, Hector LaSalle, Anthony Hoffmann

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The Independent Redistricting Commission’s 2024 maps (Jim Franco/Times Union)

☑️ Who’s right about redistricting? Fact-checking top claims

You may not know this about me, but I used to work for the national fact-checking organization PolitiFact. So I know a thing or two about fact-checking.

I also happen to know a thing or two about state government and politics in New York and, specifically, how those two things fed into each other during the state’s redistricting debacle following the 2020 U.S. Census.

Many elected officials from both parties have weighed in on that history in recent days in the context of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s intent to rehaul the state’s redistricting process.

Hochul is planning to do that in response to plans from Republicans in Texas to redraw their state’s maps to favor their party ahead of the 2026 elections. She wants to “fight fire with fire,” as she told reporters last week.

Since Hochul made that call, I’ve noticed that some loud voices on both sides of the aisle have made claims that are misleading, lack context or are just false.

Absent other news on this beautiful Monday, I thought we could sort through it all together. Send this to all of your friends so we can all stop reading false claims.

The Independent Redistricting Commission in 2024 (Jim Franco/Times Union)

1. Democrats in New York engaged in mid-decade redistricting. Doesn’t that make them hypocrites for criticizing Republicans in Texas?

It’s true that Democrats in the state Legislature redrew the state’s maps for Congress in 2024 but it came about in a very different way than what’s happening in Texas.