New York State Congressional Districts

State Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul are supporting an effort to redraw New York’s Congressional district lines.

Both James and Hochul filed an amicus brief in support of the effort rather than leaving the lines drawn by a court-appointed special master in place between now and the 2030 census.

The state’s Independent Redistricting Commission’s (IRC) maps were rejected by the Legislature, and the Congressional maps drafted afterwards were challenged in the courts, resulting in a special master drawing lines ahead of the 2022 Election.

In the brief filed in Third Division Appellate Court, Attorney General James and Governor Hochul asserted that while the special master’s maps may have been appropriate for the 2022 Election, there is significant time for IRC to generate new maps and follow the process outlined in the New York State Constitution for Congressional maps going forward.

The amicus brief urges the Appellate Division to reverse the lower court order rejecting the voters’ claim and to order IRC to draw and submit a new congressional map as required by the Constitution.

Chris Jacobs, Max Della Pia

The new congressional maps approved by a Stueben County State Supreme Court Judge boosts Republican odds of capturing more seats in the U.S. House in November’s midterm elections.

Reuters reports Judge Patrick McAllister signed off on the map just before midnight on Friday, weeks after New York’s top court ruled that the redistricting plan passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature was unconstitutionally manipulated to benefit the party.

The Democratic map would likely have given the party control of 22 of the state’s 26 congressional seats this fall, serving to counterbalance similarly partisan maps passed in Republican-dominated states such as Florida, Georgia and Texas.

Republicans need to flip only five seats in November to win a majority in the House, which would enable them to block much of President Joe Biden‘s agenda.

Court-appointed special master Jonathan Cervas, who drew the new map, said in a court filing that his plan creates eight competitive districts, along with 15 Democratic-leaning seats and three Republican-leaning seats.

The new map represents a bitterly disappointing outcome for Democrats, who used their legislative majorities to push through an aggressive gerrymander. But after Republicans sued, the courts ruled that the Democratic map ran afoul of a 2014 constitutional amendment aimed at removing partisanship from redistricting.

Cervas said he had reviewed thousands of comments since the release of a draft version on Monday and made some changes, including reuniting several Black communities and Asian American communities in New York City that he had originally split.

The new 23rd District, that includes Chautauqua County, stretches from Erie to Schuyler and Chemung Counties.

Current 27th District Representative Republican Chris Jacobs of Orchard Park announced he would be running in the new 23rd district. He has been endorsed by the Erie County Republican Committee. State Senator George Borrello who had considered running in the special election to fill out the term of Representative Tom Reed, issued a statement offering Jacobs his “strongest support.”

Jacobs was first elected in 2020 and currently serves on the House Agriculture Committee, the House Budget Committee, and the House Education and Labor Committee.

For the Democrats, Max Della Pia announced Friday he is running for the special election for the 23rd Congressional District. He had previously announced his candidacy for the November midterms in the new district.

Della Pia was unanimously endorsed by the Democratic Committee Chairs from each of the counties in the district. He is a former Senate Liaison Officer for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

The resignation of Republican Representative Tom Reed on May 10 triggered the need to fill the vacancy with a special election. Former Reed staff member, Joe Sempolinski, announced that same day he would be running on the Republican line for that special election.

The date for the election has yet to be announced but will be held sometime between July 20 and August 8 prior to the primary date for the new Congressional districts on August 23.

Top – Proposed Congressional District Map
Bottom – Proposed State Senate District Map
(May 16, 2022)

The court appointed, special master tasked with redrawing New York’s Congressional and state Senate district maps released a draft version of both maps Monday.

City and State report the interactive version of the maps were posted online by Jonathan Cervas, a scholar on apportionment who was tasked with the job.

The House district map seems to spell bad news for New York Democrats, who could have more competitive general elections than ever. Cervas seemed to prioritize that, drawing at least eight of the state’s 26 House districts in a way that either party could be competitive in November. The lines have national implications as well. Democrats have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives currently, and are expecting difficult conditions in this 2022 midterm election.

The initial lines drawn by the Democrat-controlled Legislature and approved in late January would have given Democrats an advantage in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts.

The proposed 23rd District is geographically smaller, covering 7 counties compared with the current district lines that cover an 11 county region. The new district would include southern and central Erie County to the north before stretching along the Pennsylvania-border counties to Chemung and Schuyler Counties to the east.

Cervas reconfigured the state’s 63 Senate seats from the State Legislature’s original plan struck down by New York’s highest court for unconstitutional gerrymandering last month to have between 315,450 and 329,505 constitutents each.

The lines were released just before 5 p.m. Monday, about five hours after the draft congressional maps were published.

Cervas wrote, “Because of relative population loss, two districts have been shifted and there are necessary changes throughout the state to reflect population changes.”

The new Senate map reflects 38 districts that lean Democratic, 10 that lean Republican and 15 in the 45 to 55% competitive range, based on 2016 and 2020 election data.

Cervas did not take incumbent addresses into account when redrawing the congressional or Senate districts, basing the lines on standards outlined in the state constitution.

The proposed 57th district still includes all of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties, and now would include Wyoming and Genesee counties. A tetris-like chunk of Allegany County is also in the proposed 57 district.

The maps are just a draft, with the final Congressional and state Senate maps due this Friday, May 20. The public has through Wednesday to submit testimony regarding the maps to Steuben County Acting Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister. McAllister has been overseeing the redistricting process following a successful, Republican-backed legal challenge to the maps passed into law by the state’s Democratic controlled legislature and signed by Governor Kathy Hochul. With that short timeline, observers do not expect major changes to be made to the maps.

​Primaries for U.S. House and state Senate races were pushed back to August 23, with the primary for statewide offices and state Assembly races set for June 28.

Meanwhile, there are still some question marks about how the election process will proceed. A new lawsuit filed Sunday in Manhattan Supreme Court seeks to invalidate the Assembly maps and delay the primary election until new lines could be drawn.

Two of the three plaintiffs in the case, Gary Greenberg and New York Young Republican Club President Gavin Wax previously filed legal action in the Steuben County suit to have the maps tossed, but McAllister tossed out their request last week, stating that while he agreed the Assembly maps were also drawn in violation of the constitution, it was too close to the scheduled June primary to redraw the lines.

Queens attorney and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Paul Nichols joined the two in filing the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

The proposed State Assembly redistricting map that challengers want thrown out

New York State of Politics reports a Steuben County State Supreme Court judge has upheld the lawmaker-drawn district maps for the state Assembly.

In his ruling, Judge Patrick McAllister said the maps of state Assembly districts were also “unconstitutional in the manner in which they were enacted” by the state Legislature. But the judge said it would cause “total confusion” to allow the people challenging the Assembly maps—Democratic activist Gary Greenberg and conservative political commentator Gavin Wax—to join an ongoing lawsuit over the Senate and congressional maps.

McAllister said Greenberg and Wax knew about the lawsuit when it was filed in February, “Yet they chose to do nothing at that time.” The judge said the pair could still file a separate lawsuit challenging the Assembly maps. But he said letting them raise their argument in the ongoing lawsuit would likely mean New York wouldn’t have all of its maps ready in time for a primary this year.

Wax has previously indicated he will appeal to a higher court.

The ruling from McAllister is in contrast to the rejection of the maps for the U.S. House of Representatives as well as for the state Senate in New York, which were found to be unconstitutional.

A court-appointed expert has been tasked with redrawing the congressional and state Senate maps by May 20. Primaries for those elections have been moved from June 28 to August 23.

Tom Reed

Congressman Tom Reed has announced his resignation, effective immediately.

Reed made a statement on the House of Representatives floor Tuesday, saying, “After almost 12 years in Congress, today is my last day. It has been an honor to serve with you all from both parties. I love this institution as it still exemplifies what is best about our government, we are the People’s house. While I am proud that we put people before politics, there is much more to do. I am leaving to continue that work and hope to have a greater impact on our Country.”

Reed is taking a lobbying job at Prime Policy Group.

Under a state law that was enacted in 2021, Governor Kathy Hochul is now obligated to call special elections whenever a member of Congress leaves office before July 1 in an election year. She have 10 days to issue a proclamation calling a contest to be held 70 to 80 days later.

If Hochul receives formal notification of Reed’s departure on Wednesday, that would place the date for a special for his seat somewhere between July 20 and August 8. New York is currently slated to hold some of its primaries on June 28, and others – including those for 26 the yet-to-redrawn congressional seats — on August 23.

State Senator George Borrello confirmed he is exploring options on whether to run for the special election. Borrello was just one 25 Republican legislators in the nation just named part of the “2022 Class of Emerging Leaders” by the United States GOPAC.

Reed’s former staffer, Joe Sempolinski of Canisteo, has already put his name forward as a candidate for the special election.

Sempolinski is the current Chairman of the Steuben County Republican Committee. He also currently lives in the district unlike Representative Claudia Tenney who has submitted petitions to run for the Congressional seat. She currently lives in Utica. The Buffalo News reports Tenney and her aides have not commented about whether she would want to run in the special election in the 23rd district.

Brent Sheldon

The head of the Jamestown Republican Committee said he was “shocked” to hear the news Tom Reed was stepping down.

Jamestown City Council member and City GOP chairman Brent Sheldon said it was sad and disappointing to find out Reed would be leaving office sooner than expected, “Pretty close to Tom Reed. Good friends with him, I would say. I was shocked by the news that he was resigning and not going to be able to finish out his term which he said he would do. He had announced he wasn’t going to be running so he hadn’t circulated petitions to continue serving after the end of this year so it’s sad and disappointing that he won’t be there anymore.”

Sheldon also said he’s not certain now long the area will be without a representative in Washington, but feels there will be someone in place representing the current 23rd district prior to the November general elections, “It’s a sad situation that we won’t have a representative there. It is possible that the Governor will call a special election to fill the term through the end of the year that could be held on the primary date but the Congressional primaries have been pushed to August according to the judge so, I don’t know. A lot of unknowns at this point I guess.”

Sheldon added that he helped to circulate petitions for Claudia Tenney to get her name on the ballot under the district boundaries that were eventually declared unconstitutional by the court. He said until all candidates are known for a special election, he’ll hold off throwing his support behind anyone at the moment.

Steuben County Courthouse

WSKG reports more than two dozen people from around New York state gathered at the Steuben County Courthouse Friday to provide input to the independent expert redrawing the state’s congressional and state Senate districts.

A number of different racial, religious and other community groups showed up to express their thoughts on new legislative lines in the only hearing before the court-appointed special master, Carnegie Mellon University professor Jonathan Cervas.

Several people said they drove to the Village of Bath from New York City and Long Island – a nearly seven-hour commute for some.

They said making sure their communities were kept whole and had accurate representation in the state Legislature and Congress was important enough to make the trip, though several asked the court to consider opening up more hearings.

The hearing comes the week after the New York State Court of Appeals ruled maps drawn by the Democratic-controlled Legislature to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders.

The judge overseeing the case, Patrick McAllister, has ordered Cervas to present draft maps by May 16. He hopes to finalize them by May 20.

Congressional District Map Approved by NYS Legislature on Feb. 2, 2022

New York State of Politics reports a federal judge has denied a bid backed by congressional Democrats to preserve the lines drawn by state lawmakers earlier this year for U.S. House districts in New York for a June 28 primary.

Judge Lewis Kaplan called the last-minute effort supported by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to keep the districts approved by lawmakers and signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul a “hail Mary” for the June primary.

The ruling means a special master appointed by a state court in Steuben County will likely have control of the congressional redistricting process for New York; he is expected to submit new districts for the U.S. House and state Senate districts in May.

The development comes after New York’s top state court last month ruled the congressional and state Senate lines were in violation of New York’s constitution.

A state judge previously moved the congressional and state Senate party primaries to August 23 as a result of the lines undergoing a revision by the special master. Democrats had argued in federal court the rejection of the districts gave little time for voters, and urged the judge to keep the lawmaker-drawn boundaries in place.

The state Board of Elections in a brief filed this week, however, contended there was enough time to conduct the August primary.

The proposed State Assembly redistricting map that challengers want thrown out

One lawsuit filed Sunday night and another that is planned to be filed today call on state courts to invalidate the new State Assembly district maps.

The New York Post reports New York Young Republican Club President Gavin Wax filed an emergency motion calling on Steuben County State Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister to throw out the Assembly maps.

The attorney for the New York Republican Club president, Aaron Foldenauer, said in the motion, “In its decision last week, the Court of Appeals determined that the Assembly map was subject to the same unconstitutional procedures as were the congressional and state Senate maps. The only reason that the State Assembly maps have not been struck down is because of a procedural technicality, which is hardly a justification for unconstitutional maps to stand.”

He added that there is ample time for the special master to redraw the 150-district Assembly maps along with Congress and the Senate.

The New York Daily News reports Vernon Downs Casino part-owner Gary Greenbert plans to file a lawsuit today calling on courts to invalidate Assembly maps.

The Court of Appeals ruled last week that the State Legislature lacked the authority to draw up congressional and state Senate maps earlier this year after an independent redistricting commission failed to reach a consensus.

In a footnote, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote that the panel could “not invalidate the assembly map despite its procedural infirmity” since the lawsuit that wound its way through the courts only challenged the Senate

In addition to violating a 2014 constitutional change meant to take the politics out of the redistricting process, the court also agreed with lower court rulings that Democrats gerrymandered the congressional maps in their favor.

A court-appointed expert is now tasked with drafting up new, less partisan Senate and congressional districts. Special master Jonathan Cervas, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University, may have to add the Assembly to his list if Greenberg’s and Wax’s suits are successful.

The Court of Appeals decision has already turned New York’s election calendar on its head as Judge McAllister on Friday set August 23 as the new date for congressional and Senate primaries.
McAllister said it’s up to the Legislature to determine whether or not to hold the remaining primaries for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, the Assembly and other local races on June 28 as scheduled.

The court-ordered maps are supposed to be finalized by May 20 after getting proposals from the interested parties this week.

New York State Court of Appeals

The New York State Court of Appeals has ruled the state’s new congressional map is unconstitutional. It also invalidated the new State Senate map.

Reuters reports the ruling is seen as a blow to Democrats’ chances of maintaining a majority in the U.S. Congress. Republicans are widely seen as favored to flip the minimum five seats they need nationwide to capture a U.S. House of Representatives majority in November’s congressional elections.

Democrats had hoped the aggressive New York map would offset Republican gains in states such as Texas and Florida, where Republican-controlled legislatures approved their own partisan maps as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process that follows the decennial U.S. Census.

Instead, Republicans have built a slight advantage with 46 states having completed redistricting. Only New Hampshire and Missouri have yet to approve new districts, while a state judge on Monday threw out the Republican-backed Kansas map as illegally partisan.

The New York plan, approved by Democratic super-majorities in the state’s legislature, would have given the party the edge in 22 of the state’s 26 seats, ousting half of the state’s eight Republican members of the U.S. House.

In its decision on Wednesday, the state Court of Appeals ordered the trial judge who first ruled the map illegal last month to take over the process of drawing a new map, with assistance from a special master.

The court wrote that the congressional primary elections will likely have to be moved from June to August to allow time for a new New York map.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Democratic state Senate majority said lawmakers were reviewing the decision.

State Senator George Borrello issued a statement saying, “Today’s ruling by the Court of Appeals is a major victory for New Yorkers who have repeatedly rejected a redistricting process tainted by politics and comprised of backroom deal making. Even the Democrat-appointed members of the court recognized the egregious gerrymandering of the congressional and legislative maps submitted by One Party Rule. The will of the people prevailed today.”

New York voters in 2014 approved a new redistricting commission that was intended to insulate the process from political considerations, as well as language expressly prohibiting districts drawn to favor one party over another, a strategy known as partisan gerrymandering.

But the commission failed to produce a consensus map after its members ended in stalemate along party lines, giving Democratic lawmakers the opportunity to step in.

A four-judge majority of the seven-member Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that Democrats violated 2014 constitutional amendments both procedurally, by taking over when the commission stalled, and substantively, by ignoring the ban on gerrymandering.

Two judges dissented, writing that they were not convinced the map was unconstitutional. A third judge agreed that lawmakers did not have the authority to substitute their own map for the work of the commission but did not opine on whether the districts were unconstitutionally partisan.

Democratic governors appointed all seven members of the court.