OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler could find himself out of Congress because of the new redistricting maps created in the state.
The new Congressional draft maps for New York were announced on Monday and it could change the House, Politico reported.
The maps for New York’s 26 congressional districts will play an instrumental role in whether Democrats can retain control of the House in the midterm elections, and the latest maps drawn by a special master after a successful court case by Republicans would pit several Democrats against one another.
The maps would create five districts that contain the homes of multiple incumbents, potentially setting the stage for several high-profile battles for August and November. Those include a battle for parts of Manhattan between Democratic veteran Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney.
Speaking to CNN Rep. Nadler said that he would not retire if the new districts become permanent.
“It’s unfortunate, but I’m going run and I’m going win,” he said. But, he said, it could be “psychologically” tough, because he likes Maloney but, “You do what you have to do.”
“I am proud to announce that I will be running to continue to represent the 12th Congressional District. A majority of the communities in the newly redrawn NY-12 are ones I have represented for years and to which I have deep ties,” Rep. Maloney said on Twitter.
Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, who chair the Judiciary and Oversight and Reform committees, respectively, on Monday both said they would run for the seat. https://t.co/bPnnW1UGxu
— Annie (@fccmal) May 16, 2022
I am proud to announce that I will be running to continue to represent the 12th Congressional District. A majority of the communities in the newly redrawn NY-12 are ones I have represented for years and to which I have deep ties #NY12 #TeamMaloney
— Carolyn B. Maloney (@CarolynBMaloney) May 16, 2022
“I very much look forward to running in and representing the people of the newly created 12th district of New York,” Rep. Nadler said.
But the map also placed Democratic Reps. Mondaire Jones of White Plains and Jamaal Bowman of Yonkers in the same district and has Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Yvette Clarke in the same district. Meaning four black lawmakers would face each other leaving only two.
The new map had Rep. Jeffries compare it to “Jim Crow.”
“The draft redistricting map viciously targets historic Black representation in NY, and places 4 Black members of Congress into the same district. This tactic would make Jim Crow blush. The draft map is unacceptable, unconscionable & unconstitutional,” he said.
The draft redistricting map viciously targets historic Black representation in NY, and places 4 Black members of Congress into the same district.
This tactic would make Jim Crow blush.
The draft map is unacceptable, unconscionable & unconstitutional.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) May 16, 2022
“The NYS Constitution requires that the core of existing congressional districts be maintained. So why was the historic Black community of Bedford Stuyvesant broken into pieces in the proposed map? It’s wrong and unconstitutional,” he said.
The NYS Constitution requires that the core of existing congressional districts be maintained.
So why was the historic Black community of Bedford Stuyvesant broken into pieces in the proposed map?
It’s wrong and unconstitutional.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) May 17, 2022
But, as The Gothamist reported, it was a Democrat heavy court that decided the maps that the Democrat Party had drawn favored its party too much to be allowed.
“New York’s new congressional map was drawn by Jonathan Cervas, a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Cervas was put in charge of the mapmaking process by Acting State Supreme Court Justice Patrick McAllister of Steuben County, a Republican. Cervas redrew the map just as the Democrat-heavy Court of Appeals ruled a previous, Democrat-drawn map was unconstitutionally gerrymandered to benefit the party,” it said.
Cervas’ proposal – which will be subject to public comment through Wednesday before they’re finalized Friday – made major changes to the Democrat-drawn map, leaving candidates to quickly find a home district they feel they could best win in. Much of his work appeared aimed at making districts more contiguous.
Cervas scrapped the Democrats’ proposed 3rd Congressional District, an unusually shaped district that would have stretched from western Long Island, through a tiny snippet of Queens and the Bronx and up into Westchester County. The Staten Island-centric 11th District currently held by Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis was redrawn to avoid the Democratic enclave of Brooklyn’s Park Slope, which Democrats had tried to include. He simplified the 10th District in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, eliminating a curvy, snake-like portion that Democrats previously used to connect it to the Upper West Side, now included in the 12th District Maloney and Nadler are seeking.
