New York Democrats take aim at Republicans with aggressive new
congressional map
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[February 03, 2022]
By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers in New
York passed a new congressional map on Wednesday that gives their party
the advantage in 22 of the state's 26 districts, potentially reshaping
the battle for control of the U.S. Congress ahead of November's midterm
elections.
The plan, which passed largely along party lines in the
Democratic-controlled state Senate and Assembly, could cut the state's
Republican congressional delegation in half, offsetting Republican gains
in states such as Texas and Georgia where the party muscled through its
own partisan maps last year.
Democrats currently hold 19 of the state's 27 seats; New York is slated
to lose one district due to slower population growth.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
The map would ensure the eliminated seat is a Republican one while
transforming three other Republican-leaning districts into
Democratic-favored ones. Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is expected
to sign the map into law.
Democrats hold a narrow 222-212 edge in the U.S. House of
Representatives, with one vacancy. If Republicans can win a majority in
November, they would be in position to foil much of President Joe
Biden's legislative agenda.
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The U.S. Capitol building is pictured in Washington, U.S., January
26, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png) U.S. federal law requires states to
redraw their congressional lines once a decade to account for
population shifts. In most cases, lawmakers control the process,
allowing them to engage in gerrymandering - the deliberate
manipulation of district boundaries to favor one party over another.
Many national Democrats have attacked Republicans for
gerrymandering. In January, congressional Democrats tried and failed
to pass voting rights legislation that would, among other things,
bar partisan redistricting, thanks to Republican opposition.
The New York map would not have been permitted under that bill,
noted Michael Li, a lawyer and redistricting expert with the Brennan
Center for Justice.
"It opens them up to charges of being hypocrites," he said of
Democrats.
Lawmakers were able to pass their own plan after a bipartisan
commission, approved by voters in 2014, failed to produce a
consensus map, with Democratic and Republican members trading
accusations of political gamesmanship.
Republicans could seek to challenge the map in court, as voters and
civil rights groups have done in numerous other states.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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