ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday signed a new Democratic-drafted congressional map that gives the party a modest boost in a few battleground districts, helping their candidates in a closely contested election year in which House races in the state remain in control could determine about Congress.
Lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated state House passed the mapping bill earlier Wednesday in both the Senate and Assembly with some Republican support.
The lines are similar to both Congress’ existing map and a proposal from the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission, far from the aggressive partisan gerrymander many expected after Democrats took control of the redistricting process earlier this week.
The biggest adjustments occurred in a small handful of suburban districts — areas important to the party’s plans to regain a majority in the House of Representatives.
The map could help Democrats hold on to a Long Island seat that Democrat Tom Suozzi won in a special election this month, and it merges a pair of left-leaning cities into a central New York district held by a Republican , which could help a Democrat. race.
Democrats also reversed proposed changes from the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission that would have helped incumbent Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro keep his Hudson Valley district, instead drawing lines that could make the race there more competitive.
The changes, while seemingly small, could have a major impact in the battle for control of the House of Representatives, where Republicans are trying to hold on to a slim majority and both parties are trying to gain seats through similar redistricting fights elsewhere.
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat who is leading the party’s effort to regain seats in the New York House of Representatives, said the map “provides the kind of fair representation that the people of New York State deserve .”
Republicans have threatened to launch a legal challenge against any map they say violates New York’s ban on drawing lines that benefit one party over another. It’s unclear whether at least some Republicans will file a lawsuit, but former Republican Congressman John Faso, who advised the Republican Party on redistricting lawsuits in New York, said he doesn’t think the new map makes enough changes to existing lines to to justify this. a legal challenge.
“Since there are no material changes, there is no reason to file a lawsuit,” Faso said.
Still, Democrats, wary of another protracted lawsuit over Congress’s limits, have fast-tracked passage of a separate bill that would limit where redistricting suits can be filed, a move aimed at preventing such lawsuits from reaching conservative judges.
Democrats’ restrained approach to mapmaking this week came as a surprise. The party tried to thwart an aggressive partisan gerrymander in 2022 that was thrown out by the state Supreme Court, prompting a court-appointed expert to draw the state’s lines.
Under those congressional rules, Republicans flipped seats in New York’s suburbs and won a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. After the election, Democrats sued to throw out the map, with courts ordering the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission to draw new districts.
The commission came up with lines that closely resembled the state’s 2022 boundaries, but Democrats in the state House rejected that proposal this week and drew their own districts, approving that map on Wednesday.
“I have no doubt that Democrats think this map is better for Democrats, but I know I’ve talked to many of my members in Congress who don’t think this is a terrible map for Republicans,” he said. Senate leader Rob. Ortt told reporters.