How Redistricting Has Affected New York’s Congressional Races
How do we know an incumbent from New York will lose tonight? In short, redistricting. New York wouldn’t even be holding a primary today if it weren’t for the state’s chaotic process. Initially, the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature pushed through a brutal gerrymander that might have resulted in Democrats winning 22 of the state’s 26 House seats. However, in late April — just two months before New York’s scheduled primary — the state Court of Appeals struck down that map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. That decision forced New York’s primary for Congress (and state Senate) to be postponed from June 28 to Aug. 23.
But that was only half of the impact the court had on today’s primaries. The court tapped nonpartisan expert Jonathan Cervas to draw a new map for the Empire State, and he came up with a plan that dashed the best-laid plans of many a politician.
For the first time in decades, the map combined the Upper West Side and Upper East Side of Manhattan into a single congressional district — leading to today’s primary clash of the titans between longtime Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney. The map also put 18th District Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s home in the 17th District, currently represented by Rep. Mondaire Jones, which led Maloney to quickly announce a campaign in the new 17th despite the fact that most of his constituents live in the 18th. That forced Jones to move an hour’s drive south to seek reelection in the new, open 10th District, in order to avoid his own incumbent-versus-incumbent primary.
The new map also forced some nonincumbents to change their plans. For instance, what was shaping up to be a competitive Democratic primary in the 1st District evaporated after the new map made the seat safer for Republicans. And state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who had been a formidable contender for the gerrymandered 3rd District, is now waging a long-shot primary challenge for Maloney in a district that doesn’t even overlap with her Senate district. Many candidates, though, have decided to forge ahead with their plans even under the new map; former Rep. Max Rose is still running to reclaim the 11th District for Democrats even though it’s not nearly as competitive as it was under the gerrymandered map.