The New York State Assembly voted Wednesday to approve a constitutional amendment that, if passed again by the body in the next legislative session, signed off by Gov. Kathy Hochul and approved by voters, could net Democrats up to four seats in the U.S. House — just not until 2028.

Hochul has said she supports the legislative effort, writing on X this week that she was “proud to stand with the Legislature in this fight.”

“As Republicans across the country redraw maps to shield themselves from accountability, it’s more important than ever that New Yorkers have a voice in the process,” Hochul wrote. “This amendment will give New Yorkers the power to fight back against attempts by Donald Trump and his allies to rig our elections.”

Democrats currently hold 19 seats in the state’s 26-person congressional delegation.

New York is the first blue state to take legislative action to implement redistricting ahead of the 2028 elections. NOTUS reported in May that Maryland is considering taking on a similar ballot initiative and constitutional amendment in an attempt to draw out its lone congressional Republican, Rep. Andy Harris. Several Republican states have already said they expect to redistrict before 2028, including Mississippi and Georgia.

The move by New York to plunge into the months-long redistricting wars comes weeks after the Supreme Court ruling on Louisiana v. Callais that effectively gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Following the decision, states across the South moved to draw out majority-Black districts, including in Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama.

In the days following the Callais ruling, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries tasked New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the former majority leader in the New York State Assembly, with leading New York legislators to consider redistricting.

On Wednesday, Morelle told NOTUS that he traveled to Albany earlier this year to talk to state legislators about redistricting. There were conversations about redistricting before the Callais decision, he said, but that in light of the ruling, “the consensus grew.”

“The important thing here was to make sure mid-decade redistricting could happen, and that New Yorkers will get the chance to respond to what I think many of them feel, which is that hyper-partisan redistricting particularly in the South which is eliminating Black representation at an alarming rate, that New Yorkers are disadvantaged by this,” Morelle said.

Under the new amendment, the New York Constitution would no longer ban drawing congressional districts to favor party or incumbents. The state’s independent redistricting commission would continue to exist, possibly redrawing the state’s maps in 2032 unless the Legislature chooses to draw the lines.