The draft of a new map of the congressional districts for New York seems to be a huge boost to Republicans, compared to the original lines drawn by Democratic legislators.
After a January ruling that incorrect gerrymandering had resulted in the initial map being drawn, the Democrats’ plan was scrapped. Redistricting was then done by a court-appointed special judge.
“[A]bsolutely brute in what’s probably their most unfavorable environments since ’94,” Neal Kwatra, a Democratic consultant and ex-chief of staff to the New York attorney General, tweeted in response.
Online, an interactive version of this map can be accessed by Jonathan Cervas, the special master appointed by Judge Patrick McAllister to manage the new congressional mapping.
Next, the public has until Wednesday to submit input to McAllister’s new map. The final map will be due Friday according to City&State New York.
According to the outlet, the first map placed Democrats in a clear favored position in 22 districts of the state. The new map featured eight districts that could be either.
One change from the proposed map could complicate the House’s existing composition, because it would place Jerrold Nadler, chairman of House Judiciary Committee, and Carolyn Maloney chairperson of House Oversight Committee in the same district.
Democrats sought an emergency injunction from a federal court to stop the decision that the original map was not compliant with proper procedure. The effort was rejected by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan last week.
