Democrats OK congressional map
Redistricting cycle could end if Republicans do not file lawsuit
ALBANY — The multiyear battle to draw New York’s 26 congressional boundaries for the remainder of the decade may have concluded Wednesday afternoon, with Democrats positioning themselves to pick up at least one additional seat in the House.
Democrats, who control both houses of the state Legislature with supermajorities, had rejected the maps proposed by a bipartisan commission approved by voters and instead adopted their own congressional boundaries, an outcome that drew support from a handful of Republicans.
The boundaries were unveiled early Tuesday morning and ushered through the Legislature expeditiously, after Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a rare “message of necessity” to allow for the vote to occur on Wednesday rather than be subjected to a three-day waiting period.
The congressional map approved by Democrats represents what is widely viewed as a constrained adjustment of the boundaries passed by the bipartisan state Independent Redistricting Commission last week.
Speculation mounted earlier this week that Democrats would attempt to pass a map that would heavily favor their party (which is expressly prohibited in the state constitution). But they apparently softened their approach as Republicans declared they would go to court and challenge any map that was drawn to clearly favor the other party’s candidates.
On Wednesday afternoon, state GOP Chairman Ed Cox said “there is no need for further litigation” because the new lines “are not materially different” than the 2022 congressional boundaries that were created in the wake of the Republicans’ successful court challenge of the process.
The state constitution was amended by New York voters in 2014 to create the redistricting commission and remove partisan politics from the process. Although that amendment calls for the commission to pass a bipartisan map it still gives leeway to the Legislature to amend it. A state law, passed in 2013, said any changes by the Legislature to the commission’s map would have to be no more than a 2 percent alteration of population in a given district.
Democrats ultimately approved a map on Wednesday with changes to 10 congressional districts, which could run afoul of the so-called “2 percent rule.”
But in their legislation, Democrats said their map supersedes that state law. In floor debate, lawmakers argued the changes were intended to make the commission’s map comply with the constitution requirements, such as placing Orange County in one congressional district and splitting Rensselaer County into two, but not three districts.
“We did our best to minimize the deviation,” state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris said on the floor Wednesday.
The result of the Democratdrawn map compared to the commission’s map is slight alterations in the Hudson Valley, leading to relatively more competitive districts, and two districts on Long Island that may be more safely Republican, while one is more favorable to a Democrat.
An additional change, in the 16th Congressional District in Westchester County and the Bronx, marginally changed that district in a way that could assist U.S. Rep. Jaamal Bowman in his primary challenge against Westchester County Executive George Latimer.
Democrats maintain they drew lines so the districts can be more compliant with the constitution and that they did not look at political data when drawing the boundaries.
“The state Legislature has adopted a bipartisan congressional map that more meaningfully
delivers the type of fair representation that the people of New York state deserve,” U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-brooklyn, said in a statement.
Any such legal challenge would now have to come through courts in four counties, Albany, Erie, Westchester and New York. Assembly Democrats joined their Senate colleagues in passing the legislation on Wednesday.
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-westchester County, said the change to certain courts — all in Democratic strongholds — would help to develop a specialty that “will help us go a long way.” She compared it to courts that have a specialty in handling cases of battered women.
Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, a Saratoga County Republican, dismissed the idea by noting redistricting challenges typically only occur every decade and judges serve 14-year terms and have to retire when they reach 70 years old.
“It’s an absolute ruse,” Walsh said.
The initial redistricting legal challenge in this cycle was brought by Republican operatives in deepred Steuben County. In that case, a state Supreme Court justice was able to appoint, after his decision was affirmed on appeal, an outside expert to draw the congressional boundaries for 2022. Democrats introduced the legislation in response to that action to prevent “forum shopping” — even though that judge’s decision had been upheld by two appeals courts.
Democrats would later bring their own redistricting challenge in Albany, which afforded them the opportunity to draw a new congressional map this month.
The net result, from the 2022 map to the Democrat-drawn map, may create a more favorable environment for Democrats to win in at least 18 of the 26 congressional districts.
Democrats hold 16 of the 26 New York seats in Congress.
The threat of litigation, despite Cox’s position that the Republican party will not pursue it, remains a possibility and could be filed by an interested party not associated with the GOP organization.
Former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin penned an op-ed in the New York Post Wednesday deriding the redistricting actions by Democrats. A spokesman for him, Daniel Gall, told the Times Union on Wednesday afternoon that “if additional action is necessary, it will undoubtedly be pursued,” but declined to say whether Zeldin or anyone he is aware of will be filing a lawsuit on the map.
After lawmakers filed out of the Capitol Wednesday, Bobbie Anne Cox, who represent the organization Stop NY Corruption — which has been asserting for weeks if Democrats altered the boundaries it could be grounds for a lawsuit — issued a statement that foreshadowed a potential challenge.
“New York’s corrupt election system is still functioning,” Cox said. “We still maintain that the 2022 constitutionally drawn maps should remain in place.”