Stop Democrats’ mangling of democracy – vote
Yet again, there are new congressional lines in New York. For many in Central and Western New York, this has sadly become a recurring cause of chaos and confusion.
With the 2022 New York House map now thrown out, U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams, NY-22, for example, finds himself in his fifth new district since he first announced his candidacy for Congress in 2022.
It is a major issue for New Yorkers that the same leaders who claim to be “defending” our democracy are doing everything in their power to trample all over it. Not only have they shown utter disregard for the state constitution, but they clearly don’t care either about the will of the people.
Over the last decade, there have been two statewide redistricting votes. First, in 2014, New Yorkers approved a constitutional amendment to establish a bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission to draw district lines, taking the power away from the Legislature. New Yorkers then rejected an attempt to repeal key portions of that constitutional amendment in another statewide vote in 2021. Even so, state Democrats forced hyper-partisan, gerrymandered maps upon us anyway.
This has become a theme within the New York Democratic Party. When results don’t go in their favor, they will do anything in their power as a work around even if that means going against the constitution and the will of New Yorkers. Albany Democrats drew an extremely gerrymandered map in 2022 after Republicans recruited stellar candidates who launched aggressive campaigns to capture voters’ attention by speaking to their concerns about crime and the economy. When the court ruled against Democrats and tossed out the Democrats’ gerrymandered map, the left attacked the state’s highest court to produce more favorable outcomes.
The chief judge who ruled against them in 2022 was pushed out. After losing all but one competitive congressional race last cycle, Democrats then appealed to their newly rigged court to regain control of the redistricting process. Even after the bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission produced a fair map, the Legislature threw it out to carve out a greater advantage for themselves.
The fate of the majority in the House of Representatives was decided in New York last election cycle. Republicans campaigned hard as one team, one ticket, and flipped four seats to grow the Republican delegation in the state to eleven members. Republicans won two out of three seats in the Hudson Valley and a crucial seat in Central New York. The state had some of the most competitive races in the country, and New Yorkers had the final say of who controlled the House.
This year, the same corrupt Albany politicians who have rewritten rules time and again are once more trying to bypass New York voters to cheat their way into control of Congress. New Yorkers can stand up to this corruption and make their voices heard -- by voting against these Albany politicians in overwhelming numbers come November.
If voters won’t hold them accountable, these elected officials will grow more emboldened for even more power grabs in the future.