New York state Democratic lawmakers on Monday rejected a congressional map proposed by a bipartisan redistricting committee, giving them a chance to draw new lines.
This is the second time state Democrats have tried to advance their map. In 2022, the state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature passed maps that boosted Democrats’ congressional prospects so much that state courts threw them out in favor of a court-drawn map. This map, driven by strong Republican turnout in the midterm elections, elected 11 Republicans and 15 Democrats in 2022.
Democrats returned to court last year, arguing that the state’s independent redistricting commission didn’t have the opportunity to fully speak when the court’s map was implemented. Republicans then warned that Democrats would use the process to pass their own gerrymander, but the court ruled with Democrats and the state’s Independent Reelection Committee was reconvened.
The committee approved the new congressional map in late February, which made modest changes to parts of the state’s court-appointed maps, leaving most of the state’s congressional district lines intact.
Favorable Democratic lines could have a big impact on this fall’s battle for control of the Republican-led House of Representatives. But an aggressive gerrymander like the one New York Democrats are taking in 2022 will surely draw another legal challenge.
It could also put Democrats who have been for years defended To ban partisan gerrymandering – a politically uncomfortable position.