It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC.

Good morning, everyone.

So depending on where you are, you may be thinking about this year's big elections for

mayor of New York, for governor of

New Jersey and Virginia, and maybe a few others. But the Democratic and Republican parties are

already fighting the crucial fight for control of Congress, Trump's midterm election, in next

year's midterms. And one way they're doing it this week is with a redistricting

war. Now, districting is traditionally only supposed to happen every 10 years after that decade's

census. But the Republicans who control things in Texas have been making news this week by trying

to redraw congressional lines there now to add

five more areas likely to go Republican right away. Five is a lot in a house with currently just

a seven-seat Republican majority. And now there's a process being launched by Democrats in New York

to try to flip some red districts to blue.

Seeing the Texas developments, Governor Kathy Hockel told Politico this week, quote,

we're not going to sit by while Donald Trump and Texas Republicans try to steal this nation's

future. I've been in active talks, she said, with local and national leaders,

and in the coming days, we'll meet to align our next move, unquote, from Governor Hockel to

Politico. But some New York Democrats aren't waiting even for that. This week, State Senator

Michael Janaris of Queens and assemblymen Michael Asher of Manhattan introduced a state

constitutional amendment to make it easier to draw redistricted lines mid-decade if another state

does so first. Now this may not be able to happen by next year's midterms, but could even

things out in the long run.

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