Redrawn New York District Maps Due Before Judge

New York’s congressional redistricting process could reach its conclusion tomorrow, when a state judge receives the final version of maps redrawn by a court-appointed official following months of litigation.The judge, Patrick McAllister, had struck down the maps originally drawn by the state legislature as an unconstitutional gerrymander, and while Republicans see the new lines as a victory, Democrats lamented that the Court of Appeals had unleashed “chaos” in overturning the maps that favored their party.The decision to toss out the maps drawn and enacted by the Democrat-led legislature gave control of the map-drawing process to a court-appointed special master, Jonathan Cervas, a Carnegie Mellon Institute of Politics and Strategy fellow who has in the past drawn multiple county-level district maps as well as district maps for Pennsylvania.Mr. Cervas has drawn a map with 16 seats that lean toward the Democratic Party, five competitive seats, and five Republican-leaning seats. The final maps are to be presented to the judge Friday after Mr. Cervas considers complaints from interested parties.Republicans have submitted an alternate map for consideration that would create 15 Democratic-leaning seats, four competitive seats, and seven Republican-leaning seats, citing a reduction in county splits as their reasoning.Democrats have submitted a map that would create districts very similar to the original legislative proposal, arguing that their original district lines should be reaffirmed.Many complaints were filed in court regarding the new district maps drawn by Mr. Cervas.Multiple Saratoga Springs residents said they want their city to be represented in the capitol region district rather than the Adirondacks district. Mr. Cervas’s maps would group it with the Adirondacks in what is now the district represented by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Republican.“As a resident of the city of Saratoga Springs, NY, I am strongly opposed to the draft Congressional map that would remove my community from a Congressional district centered in New York’s Capital Region,” a Saratoga Springs resident, Molly Gagne, wrote.Concern over Jewish communities in southern Queens has also been repeatedly brought to the court’s attention, perhaps increasing the likelihood that lines in the area will be changed.“The State Legislature’s plan properly took into account our testimony and mapped a district that combined most of the Jewish Community in Central Queens,” one concerned citizen, Carline Boehm, wrote, adding: “the district you redrew takes South East Queens and goes through Jamaica into Kew Gardens, and Kew Gardens Hills,” calling the line “a flagrant disregard of this community’s advocacy.”Others are upset about the drawing of the 12th district, which would combine the Upper East and the Upper West Side into one district along with midtown Manhattan.“If there were two distinct communities of interest it is the Upper West Side and Upper East Side of Manhattan,” one Manhattanite, Monica Aitya, wrote. “Combining the two only serves to pit one against the other.”While it is entirely up to the court which complaints get taken into account in the final calculation, New York’s constitution calls for “communities of interest” to be considered when drawing electoral districts.Such communities are those that may have a unique set of concerns and similar legislative interests, normally aligning with cultural, racial, or economic groups.One such community includes Asian American residents in Manhattan and Brooklyn. An Asian American voter advocacy group, APAVoice, wrote to the court arguing for the 10th and 11th congressional districts to be redrawn.“Since 1997, Manhattan Chinatown and Sunset Park have long been recognized by the federal court as a community of interest,” they argued. “Indeed, it is well documented that Sunset Park’s Asian American enclave was an outgrowth of Manhattan’s Chinatown.”Some contend that the separation of such communities of interest is intentional and aimed at reducing their representation in Congress.“The New York State Constitution requires that the core of existing congressional districts be maintained,” Representative Hakeem Jefferies wrote on Twitter. “So why was the historic Black community of Bedford Stuyvesant broken into pieces in the proposed map?”“The redistricting chaos in NY was unleashed by the Court of Appeals,” he added.Other groups have alleged that the lawsuit was engineered by Republicans to give them the most favorable results at trial, by bringing the case in a particularly conservative county.“This is the result of forum shopping on the part of the plaintiffs,” Common Cause NY’s executive director, Susan Lerner, told Politico. “They knew exactly where they wanted to be. They wanted to be in a remote rural county, and they were successful.”The results of the lawsuit have thrown some Democratic incumbents in New York into unexpectedly sticky situations. It’s likely that Representative Jerry Nadler will face off against Representative Carolyn Maloney to represent a broad swath of Upper Manhattan and Midtown.Representative Sean Maloney will likely face off against Representative Mondaire Jones or Representative Jamaal Bowman if the final maps follow Mr. Cervas’s proposal.Whatever the outcome, decisions will likely be made tomorrow, after final maps are filed. Petitioning to get on electoral ballots under the new lines will begin on May 21 and the primary election is scheduled for August 23.To further complicate the situation, a separate primary for state Assembly and statewide elections will be held on June 28.

Redrawn New York District Maps Due Before Judge

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