A new redistricting map in deep-blue New York state is causing consternation among critics who see it as a blatant attempt by Democrats who control all levers of government to increase the number of Dem-held seats in Congress.
The wild redistricting produced an “egregiously biased map” as part of a “brazen and outrageous attempt at rigging the election to keep Nancy Pelosi as speaker,” one critic charged.
According to analysis at FiveThirtyEight, the newly unveiled map “severely” tilts the “playing field toward Democrats” (emphasis added):
The proposed map has an efficiency gap of D+9, but that understates how severely it would tilt the playing field toward Democrats. The proposed map creates 20 Democratic-leaning seats and only four Republican-leaning seats and two highly competitive seats (both of which tilt toward Democrats themselves).
This is an increase of three Democratic-leaning seats, a decrease of three Republican-leaning seats and a decrease of one highly competitive seat from the old map.
If the map is enacted, it would likely set up Democrats to flip the open Republican-held 1st and 22nd districts, as well as Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’s 11th District. GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney would also be thrown into a competitive race against Democratic Rep. Antonio Delgado in the new 19th District.
“Such an egregiously biased map was only possible because of the weakness of New York’s new bipartisan redistricting commission,” FiveThirtyEight explained.
“Under state law, the legislature may simply draw its own map after rejecting the commission’s first two proposals. Even worse, the commission didn’t even work as intended,” the FiveThirtyEight analysis continued.
As reported by The Washington Post, the new map “erases the upstate seat held by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R) and creates a deep-blue district in the middle of the state.”
Tenney announced Monday on Twitter she planned to run for reelection.
“We are officially announcing our campaign for this year! I look forward to meeting and earning the support of even more New Yorkers and getting to work for our region in Congress,” she posted to Twitter.
State Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy said in a statement that the map is a “brazen and outrageous attempt at rigging the election to keep Nancy Pelosi as speaker.”
“Democrats are circumventing the will of the people,” Langworthy said, the New York Post .
“For all of their phony protestations about transparency and fairness in elections, what they’re doing is textbook filthy, partisan gerrymandering that is clearly in violation of the New York State Constitution,” he added.
“We are reviewing all of our legal options to protect the voices of millions of New Yorkers,” the party chairman said.
It’s not just in New York where Democrats are being helped in Congress.
“So far, in more than two dozen maps passed around the country, Democrats would net an additional five districts that Joe Biden would have won in 2020,” The Washington Post reported this week.
“The New York map, which is expected to be voted on this week and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), would bring that up to eight seats,” the Post added.