Singing the "Blues"?
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New York Dems vied to tighten their grip on power with redistricting. Another court ruling said not so fast.
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By Jim Roberts
Politics is a blood sport. Political power is the currency of the realm, and New York state Democrats are engaged in a court battle to preserve the new Congressional district lines they drew to tighten their grasp on power.
Redistricting occurs in each state following the ten-year census. New election lines are being drawn this year to reflect the change in the 50 states’ population based on the 2020 census.
So with Democrats holding a supermajority in the Assembly and Senate in Albany, New York’s flawed and harshly criticized procedure to redraw district lines came to its inevitable outcome on Feb. 3 with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature.
Such an egregiously biased map was only possible because of the weakness of New York’s new bipartisan redistricting commission. Under state law, the legislature may simply draw its own map after rejecting the commission’s first two proposals. — FiveThirtyEight
The new maps would solidify Democrats’ hold on New York’s congressional delegation for ten years until the next census triggers another redistricting. Democrats will have a majority of registered voters in 22 of the 26 congressional districts.
Republicans, who now hold eight of New York’s 27 seats in Congress, would only have an advantage in the remaining four districts, according to the New York Times.
The effect will most likely be to increase Democrats’ count of New York House seats to 22 from 19 and cut the Republican count down to four from the current eight. (New York loses one seat because its population shifts to other states.)
However, a so-far successful court challenge by upstate Republican voters has created uncertainty about this year’s elections. In the latest ruling on April 21, a state court panel voted 5-3 to declare the new congressional lines unfair to Republican voters in the state. “We are satisfied that petitioners established beyond a reasonable doubt that the Legislature acted with partisan intent,” the decision stated.
The appeals court however did reinstate the state Senate and Assembly maps that the original ruling disqualified and gave the legislature until April 30 to redraw the congressional map. Fifteen Republican members of the Assembly voted yes on the new district lines. The case will head to the state NY Court of Appeals for a final ruling.
According to one analysis, the newly proposed congressional districts in New York provide…
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