Last September, New York Democrats sought to drive the Republican Party out of existence in the state by taking the term “gerrymander” to unheard-of levels. Currently, the Democrats hold 19 congressional seats to the GOP’s 8. The map drawn by the state legislature was a parody of democracy. It would have eliminated five Republican seats and strengthened the marginal hold on several other seats by Democrats.
Fortunately, the state’s highest court put the kibosh on that hyperpartisan nonsense. “Democratic leaders in the legislature drafted the 2022 congressional redistricting map without any Republican input, and the map was adopted by the Legislature without a single Republican vote in favor of it,” the majority decision reached by five judges said.
The court ordered a new map redrawn by special master Jonathan Cervas of Carnegie Mellon University. Cervas released his map on Monday, and New York Democrats went into mourning.
Gone was their massive 23-3 majority of House seats. In addition to Democrats losing one House seat to redistricting, at least four other seats were made friendlier to Republicans and better yet, two leading Democrats will be forced to run against each other.
And in a stunning move, Cervas redrew two districts represented by entrenched Democrats in a way that now pits House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn) and House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-Queens) against each other.
A short time after the maps were made public, Nadler said he believed the “newly proposed lines” violated “constitutional requirements” — but added that if they “become permanent,” he’d run in the newly configured NY-12 district, long represented by Maloney.
Maloney later tweeted, “I am proud to announce that I will be running to continue to represent the 12th Congressional District.”
Two congressmen enter. One congressman leaves.
Related: Is New York Shifting Red?
Naturally, Republicans are exultant. They are still likely to lose one seat, but that’s better than losing 5.
“Justice has been served and will be again in November when Kathy Hochul and the Democrats pay the price with voters for trying to rig the election with their illegal Hochulmander,” Langworthy said in a prepared statement.
“All we’ve wanted are fair maps because unlike the Democrats, we know we can compete and win on the merits with our strong candidates and our agenda to save America and New York from the dumpster fire of their one-Party rule.”
Meanwhile, national Democrats are wearing black because of this new map. They’re grieving over their lost congressional majority, as they now have virtually no chance to keep it. Only an electoral miracle can save the Democrat’s tenuous majority in the House.
Or, they can always play dirty.
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