NY Dems reject bipartisan congressional maps, will draw their own — giving them edge in election battles

The Democrat-controlled New York state legislature rejected new congressional maps Monday and will now draw up their own – a move likely to give their candidates the inside track in key 2024 election battles.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly chose to scrap proposed maps that were recommended by a 10-member bipartisan commission, and instead opted for process that will give Democrats the power to tip the scales in favor of their candidates as control of the US House of Representatives hangs in the balance.

US House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) had publicly pushed Albany counterparts to pick apart the proposed maps.

The Independent Redistricting Commission’s proposed maps for the Empire State’s 26 House seats were close to the existing boundaries — drawn up by a court-ordered monitor two years ago. The group approved the maps in a bipartisan 9-to-1 vote. 

But the state Assembly soundly rejected those maps in a 99-47 vote Monday, while the state Senate followed suit in a 40-17 vote.

Reshaped battleground districts more favorable to Democrat candidates could help the party take back seats that were lost in battleground races two years ago on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley. Those Republican victories won the House majority for the GOP.

Conservative billionaire activist Ron Launder vowed Monday to bankroll a lawsuit to block the Democrats from packing the House maps in their favor.

“After years of trying to rig the districts in a partisan and illegal manner, a bipartisan commission has ruled 9-1 in favor of these new districts. Attempting to change that again to try to illegally circumvent the process is the worst kind of hackery,” Lauder said in a statement.

“Not only will voters reject it in the fall, as they did in 2022, but I’ll fight to stop them. Both In the courts and in the court of public opinion and I’ll win. The vast majority of New Yorkers want a fair process. It’s a few out of touch `leaders’ in Albany and Washington DC who are prepared to buck the will of their constituents and we won’t stand for it,” added Lauder.

A spokesperson for Jeffries, who would be in line to become speaker of the House if Democrats take control in the 2024 elections, had come out in harsh terms against the proposed maps shortly after their release.

“There is reason to be concerned with the failure of the IRC to address many of the flaws in the current map drawn by an unelected, out-of-town special master in 2022,” spokesperson Andy Eichar said. “Instead of remedying several of the substantive issues raised by good government groups related to communities of interest, the IRC map ignores or exacerbates them in parts of New York State, including the upper Hudson Valley.”

Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, D-Bronx, had indicated the proposed maps were about to be axed prior to the vote.

“We’re going to vote down the lines today,” said Benedetto, a close ally of Speaker Carl Heastie. “That’s the way we are going to be going.”

Deputy Senate Majority leader Mike Gianaris (D-Queens) also had indicated that the Democrats in the upper house would also reject the IRC’s compromise on congressional maps.

“I expect we’ll be taking up the IRC maps on the floor today and it seems the will of the conference is to reject those lines and get to work with our Assembly colleagues on some new proposals,” Gianaris told reporters in Albany.

Gianaris said the IRC’s recommendations “clearly engaged in incumbent protection,” which is unconstitutional.

One Dem insider said more Democrats would likely be added to first-term Republican Rep. Michael Lawyer’s 17th district in the Hudson Valley under one scenario and as many as three or four of Long Island’s House districts could be reshaped. 

Government watchdog groups slammed the rejection of the bipartisan group’s maps.

“In 2014, voters chose to enact historic reforms to create a more independent, transparent redistricting process. Unfortunately, the Legislature has worked to undermine these reforms at every turn,” said Citizens Union executive director Betsy Gotbaum.

She noted that primary elections — scheduled for June 25 — will likely be delayed for the second consecutive cycle as the redistricting process drags on again. Petitioning to get on the ballot was scheduled to start Tuesday.

“This is unfair to both candidates who don’t know what their districts will look like, and voters who will have to come out to the polls on an unfamiliar date  New Yorkers deserve better,” Gotbaum said.

Republican Rep. Michael Lawler in the Hudson Valley said of the Dems’ move, “As the old adage goes, power corrupts; absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

“The rejection of the bipartisan NYIRC map is another attempt by Washington and Albany Democrats to thwart the will of the voters and engage in another unconstitutional gerrymander,” Lawler added. “For a party that claims they want to protect democracy and put people over politics, they sure have a funny way of showing it.”

In 2022, Democrats in the Senate and Assembly drew up the House maps after Democratic and Republicans on the IRC failed to reach a consensus.

But the courts struck down the maps as unconstitutional for giving partisan advantage to Democrats and appointed a monitor to draw the House lines.

In a bizarre turn of events, however, the state’s highest court — the Court of Appeals with a new chief judge — reversed itself last December and ordered a do-over, dealing a blow to Republicans.

Redistricting of legislative seats is done every 10 years to account for changes in the state’s population. But New York has been forced to revisit the lightning rod issue after just two years, thanks to the political and legal mess left by lawmakers and the courts.