House Democrat ‘s won’t get a solid 5 new districts….
The redrawn map was done to NOT have it go back to court….
The piece from RRH Elections, a right leaning outfit, is below….
By a 9-1 vote, New York’s Independent Redistricting Commission has approved a new New York Congressional map. Here’s our static version of that proposed map:
The 30,000 foot view is that the bulk of the material changes from the 2024 map are in Upstate New York. Under the proposal, Congressman Marc Molinaro’s (R) NY-19 would swap territory with Congressman Pat Ryan’s (D) NY-18. This, along with a few other nibbles to NY-19 would make Molinaro’s district more Republican and Ryan’s more Democratic. The biggest potential loser is likely NY-22 Congressman Brandon Williams (R), whose district lost part of heavily Republican northern Oneida County (Rome) for the more marginal Auburn and Cortland areas. There also are a few more minor Upstate changes which will be extensively outlined later today.
The 4 Long Island districts are the same as the current map, as is Congressman Jamaal Bowman’s (D) NY-16, and, somewhat surprisingly, but for a small precinct swap of about 650 residents in Dutchess County, Congressman Mike Lawler’s (R) NY-17. A few minor swaps were also made in Brooklyn and Queens, including about 48K residents being moved from Congresswoman Grace Meng’s (D) NY-6 to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ (D) NY-14.
The map must now be approved by 2/3rds of the New York State legislature. State Senator James Skoufis (D) of Orange County has released a statement against the IRC proposal, citing incumbent protection and splitting his home county. Under the enabling legislation for the IRC, even if the map is voted down, the New York State Legislature could only change any district by 2%. This provision is purely statutory and not in the NYS Constitution, but any attempt to change it while drawing a Gerrymander would undoubtedly be cited as evidence of partisan intent by Republican lawyers in any potential lawsuit.
Here’s the start of the specifics, for those who want to get into the weeds…..