With help from Amira McKee
YOU STARTED IT: She wants to be the gerrymanderer-in-chief.
Gov. Kathy Hochul hosted six lawmakers from Texas at the Capitol this morning — and while gracing them with some good ol’ northern hospitality, she also effectively told the Empire State’s good government groups to go to hell.
The Texas Democrats were fleeing the Lone Star State to prevent their state Legislature from having the quorum necessary to push forward a Trump-led redistricting measure, which would give the state five more Republican congressional seats.
The visit to Hochul’s backyard showcased how the governor is playing a key role in escalating the political arms race to redraw congressional maps around the country, POLITICO’s Bill Mahoney reports.
After greeting the Texans in Albany with a breakfast of eggs, bacon and sausage, Hochul held a press conference with them in the Capitol’s Red Room — where she slammed New York’s own redistricting process for not being partisan enough and embraced the full-fledged gerrymandering of New York’s congressional districts.
“I’m tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back,” Hochul said, when asked if she would change or disband New York’s independent redistricting committee. “Republicans take over the Legislature? They can have at it. But until then, we’re in charge.”
“All due respect to the good government groups, politics is a political process,” she added.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie agreed: “It’s very difficult to say play fair when your opponents are playing dirty and using every toolbox to undermine democracy.”
Hochul wants legislators to start a process of approving a constitutional amendment to let New York make changes to its own congressional lines. But that’s a lengthy process and wouldn’t impact the maps any sooner than the 2028 election — even if the amendment is approved by voters and the new lines aren’t challenged in court.
“We’re sick and tired of being pushed around when other states don’t have the same aspirations that we always have,” the governor said.
Mayoral candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who authored the 2012 state constitutional language now restricting New York Democrats’ abilities to quickly respond to Texas, wasn’t totally on board with Hochul’s hardball efforts.
“I think what Texas is doing is grossly political and just gross gerrymandering and is one of the reasons why the public turns off on government,” Cuomo said at an unrelated campaign event in Manhattan. “It could also have a dramatic effect if it goes beyond Texas. But to pass it, to do it here, you would need a couple of years. … So my guess is, by the time you could actually do it, it would be irrelevant.”
The six Texas House Democrats — whose colleagues also fled to Illinois on Sunday — said today they were just stopping through Albany and planned to continue on their journey to meet with Democratic governors from other states.
They wouldn’t say where they’re headed next and refused to reveal if they plan to remain outside the Lone Star State until Aug. 19, when Texas’ special session concludes. If they don’t, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has the power to call another special session immediately after the current one to bring up the redistricting bill again.
“To run to states like New York and Illinois to protest redistricting, it’s kind of like running to Wisconsin to protest cheese. It’s just kind of outrageous,” Abbott said in response to the lawmakers Albany visit today. “New York and Illinois are two hallmark states that have already done redistricting to eliminate Republicans.”
Hochul’s naked embrace of Democratic gerrymandering in response to the Texas GOP’s own effort was condemned by New York Republicans in the state Legislature and Congress, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, who’s considering challenging Hochul for governor.
“The Worst Governor in America needs to be reminded that she conveniently forgot to tell the unlawful out-of-state radical Democrats at today’s desperate press conference that she lost not once, but TWICE in her effort to illegally draw gerrymandered lines in New York to rig our Congressional elections and suppress the will of the voters,” Stefanik said on X.
John Kaehny, executive director of the good government group Reinvent Albany, described Hochul’s move as trying to justify destroying the village to save it — which will really just undermine democracy.
“The state of New York motto is Excelsior, which means, ‘Ever Upwards,’ not, ‘We’ll Race Texas to The Bottom and Disenfranchise Large Swaths of New York Voters,’” he told Playbook. “Gerrymandering is without a doubt one of the most devastating ways to essentially nullify the votes of huge numbers of people, and that’s the opposite of democracy.” — Jason Beeferman
‘THE SAFEST BIG CITY’: Mayor Eric Adams touted falling crime rates today in Brooklyn, dubbing last month “the safest July in our subway system in recorded history.”
Adams, a retired NYPD captain, won his 2021 campaign in large part on the promise that he would make a pandemic-ravaged New York City safer. Now, as New Yorkers’ public safety insecurities endure, he’s returning to crime statistics — in the face of his abysmal performance in recent polls.
“New York City is grieving this week after the tragic loss of four innocent lives — including an NYPD officer — in a senseless shooting in Midtown,” Adams said in a statement. “As we mourn, we must also find ways to turn our pain into purpose; it’s the least we can do to honor the victims. While this incident will forever be a stain on our city, it happened against the backdrop of a larger, more hopeful picture — one where the brave men and women of the NYPD continue to drive down crime.”
The first seven months of 2025 saw the fewest shooting incidents and shooting victims in recorded history, according to July crime statistics put out by the NYPD today. The department’s seven major crime categories, including murder and robbery, are down 5.6 percent overall from last year.
While Adams has blamed media coverage for lingering fears over public safety, a POLITICO analysis found overall crime in the city is yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
The mayor and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters today that they attribute their progress, in part, to the administration’s focus on illegal gun removal and gang takedowns.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor who leads the field in recent polls, has offered different policy prescriptions from the mayor when it comes to policing. Their divergent views have become a centerpiece in the race in the aftermath of a mass shooting that killed an NYPD officer in Midtown Manhattan last week. Mamdani has distanced himself from his previous calls to “defund the police,” but his future with the nation’s largest police force remains a delicate matter.
Adams took aim at Mamdani today for his calls to disband the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, the controversial unit responsible for policing protests and responding to major public disturbances — including the mass shooting.
“We just have a philosophical difference in the principles of public safety, and there’s a reason crime is down and jobs are up, and idealism collides with realism when you are saving the lives of people,” Adams said at his press conference on the stats. — Amira McKee
IF YOU PAY THEM, THEY WILL COME: Cuomo unveiled a public safety proposal of his own today — it’s designed to retain and attract more NYPD recruits.
The former governor proposed offering new recruits a $15,000 signing bonus and then layering in additional retention bonuses throughout their tenure. He floated the idea of recruiting retired cops to rejoin the force, allowing them to collect their pension and a salary. Cuomo also proposed a city-run scholarship fund that would offer a full ride to officers without a bachelor’s degree.
Sweetening the pay — which would cost $250 million over five years — and offering other perks would help the city hire 5,000 more police officers, Cuomo said.
“It’s time to build a new New York City based on what we are dealing with and what we’ve learned,” Cuomo said.
The former governor also devoted a significant portion of his press briefing to attacking Mamdani and poring over the state legislator’s past support for defunding the police. Mamdani has said during his campaign he would maintain funding for the department while creating a new Department of Community Safety that would handle tasks like mental health emergencies.
“Either you were telling the truth then or you’re telling the truth now, but you cannot justify those two statements,” Cuomo said.
The former governor further separated himself from the 33-year-old democratic socialist by proposing to expand the Strategic Response Group, a controversial NYPD unit, and continuing to have it handle protests. Mamdani has proposed disbanding the unit and creating a new one designed to respond to emergencies like the Midtown mass shooting last week. — Joe Anuta
ON YOUR RIGHT: Adams is planning to do a fireside chat next week with the conservative Manhattan Institute as he seeks support on the right for his longshot independent reelection effort.
“Governing in NYC,” a conversation between Adams and Manhattan Institute President Reihan Salam, is set for Aug. 14 at the Hilton Midtown. The prominent think tank welcomed Adams’ 2021 election as a change from the de Blasio years. But even as the institute’s scholars have written extensively about the mayor — both positively and negatively — Adams has largely kept his distance from his conservative backers.
The institute has been an intellectual force behind attacks on DEI initiatives and gender identity protections.
Adams is also mending fences with an old friend on the right, the Trump-friendly radio host Sid Rosenberg, the Daily News reported Friday.
We’ll be watching to see if newly minted Manhattan Institute fellow Danielle Sassoon shows up, after she resigned as acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, rather than comply with the Department of Justice’s order to drop the corruption case against Adams. — Jeff Coltin
— STATEN ISLAND 4 MAMDANI: Democratic leaders in New York City’s most conservative borough are backing Zohran Mamdani over Andrew Cuomo. (New York Post)
— NY POST TAKES LA: The New York Post will launch a new daily newspaper in Los Angeles called “The California Post” in early 2026. (Axios)
— ‘BASIC DECENCY’: Hochul responded to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz after he criticized her for wearing a head covering to the funeral of a slain Muslim NYPD officer. (New York Times)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Politics
