Nearly four out of five New Yorkers refuse to endorse the Democrat push to rig congressional maps — and the same party's national leaders are twisting themselves into knots defending a Senate candidate with a Nazi tattoo. The establishment will sacrifice any principle for power, and the voters know it.
A Siena University poll released Thursday found just 21% of New Yorkers believe a proposed constitutional amendment — backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — to let Albany Democrats redraw congressional districts is "good for New York." The numbers are brutal across the board: 44% call it bad, and even among Democratic voters, only 26% support their own party's power grab while 38% say it hurts the state.
The amendment would scrap the bipartisan redistricting panel New Yorkers voted to create in 2014. Hochul, Jeffries, and Rep. Joe Morelle have promised to spend "resources" pushing the measure to a 2027 ballot vote. Morelle, flanked by Hochul in her state capitol office last month, called the current system "an existential threat to the Republic" — a remarkable claim from a man trying to eliminate bipartisan oversight entirely.
"There is partisan agreement in opposition to the amendment," Siena poll spokesperson Steve Greenberg said. Republicans oppose it at 54%, independents at 47%. Just 14% of independents think it's a good move.
New York Republican Committee spokesperson David Laska told the New York Post: "This poll proves that New Yorkers are too smart to buy into Democrats' nonsense about 'saving democracy.' They know this is about one thing and one thing only — power."
Let's be honest: Republicans have played this game too. GOP-controlled states have drawn their own gerrymandered districts to lock in advantages. The real scandal is bipartisan — the political class across both parties treats voters as props and districts as private property. What's different here is the scale of voter rejection. When nearly 80% of your own party's voters won't back your map-rigging, you've lost the argument.
That power-first instinct isn't limited to New York. The Republican National Committee released a video Friday showing national Democrats squirming when asked about Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, whose controversies include a Nazi tattoo and resurfaced posts calling himself a "communist," dismissing "all police as bastards," and saying white Americans "actually are racist and stupid," according to Breitbart News.
Sen. Cory Booker, asked on NBC whether Platner has the character to serve, said: "He has a lot of issues but my God we need the Senate." Sen. Ruben Gallego downplayed the Nazi tattoo as a "stupid tattoo" and said it was acceptable for Platner to associate with antisemites because other Democrats do as well. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, said: "I don't make that choice for the people of Maine; I am hopeful that his candidacy is successful."
Sen. Martin Heinrich said Platner "owned" his mistakes and deserves "the benefit of the doubt." Rep. John Garamendi praised Platner's "many good attributes" and "great background," allowing only that "like most everybody there are stumbles along the way." Rep. Josh Gottheimer was a rare dissenter, telling CNBC he wasn't "just talking about the Nazi tattoo which he clearly knew about" and pointing to allegations of Platner's "abuse of women." Most others simply ran — Sen. Michael Bennet said he was "busy running for Governor of Colorado," and Sen. Chris Coons said he had his "own election campaign" to focus on.
Jeffries — the same man pushing the New York redistricting scheme — was asked about Platner's character too. The answer wasn't recorded. Whether it's gerrymandering away bipartisan oversight or looking past Nazi ink for a Senate seat, the calculation is the same. The question is whether voters keep letting them get away with it.
