On February 15, 2024 the New York State Independent Redistricting Committee (“IRC”) voted 9 to 1 in favor of a single Congressional map and have forwarded it  to the NYS Legislature for approval.  The “new” map is very similar to the map drawn up nearly two years ago by a court appointed Special Master. 

 

In December 2023, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that the state’s Congressional maps must be redrawn.  The ruling required the IRC to submit a new Congressional map to the state legislature for approval by February 28.  The NYS legislature must approve the map with a  two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and the Assembly before  Governor Kathy Hochul can sign it into law.  However, if the map does not receive  two-thirds approval in either chamber, the legislature will  be able to enact its own map. For a catch up on the NYS Redistricting saga click here.

There was immediate outcry to the IRC map by various civic and voting rights organizations centered around the fact that the IRC failed to hold a single public hearing before drawing up the proposed map.  These groups are asking the state legislature to hold at least one public hearing before voting on the new maps that will remain in place until after the 2030 census. 

U. S. House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), was also critical of the IRC’s proposed congressional lines.  A spokesperson for Representative Jeffries, noted that there are reasons to be concerned with the “failure of the IRC to address many of the flaws” in the current map drawn by a special master after the state legislature’s maps were rejected by the state’s top court in 2022.  “Instead of remedying several of the substantive issues raised by good government groups related to communities of interest, the IRC map ignores or exacerbates them in parts of New York State, including the upper Hudson Valley,” Jeffries spokesperson Andy Eichar said in a statement according to Spectrum NY1 News.

At the People’s Hearing on Redistricting held on Tuesday, February 20, the issue of community of interest was often heard in the testimony of various New York City groups that had made up the Unity Map.   

Keeping communities of interest together is listed as one of the priorities in the 2019 amendment to the NYS Constitution regarding redistricting.  It should be noted that standard best practices for redistricting seek to adhere to continuous geographic and municipal lines.  However, this ”best practice” does not account for, nor seeks to remedy, the impact of historic and structural racism.  Without acknowledging and seeking to remedy the disenfranchisement of Black voters  by state sponsored policies, such as redlining, urban renewal and the interstate highway system, a truly just and fair redistricting process remains unattainable. 

On Monday, February 26  the State legislature rejected the congressional district lines proposed by the IRC. The NYT reports that State Sen. Gianaris stated,  “If we come up with a map that respects communities of interest, deals with keeping political boundaries intact, and deals with some of the issues that we think are flawed in the map that was presented to us, hopefully the courts will agree”.   

Tuesday, February 27th, the State legislature put forth their own map. With only minor changes to the proposed IRC map and little public pushback from Republicans, there is the expectation that the Legislature will vote in favor of their map and send it to Gov. Hochul for approval.

In the contentious Congressional District 16 race, the Legislature map puts Co-op City back into District 16 but removes the Wakefield section of the Bronx.  The percentage of African Americans in District 16 remains an anemic 20.7% vs the 29.5% it had in the 2012-2022 Congressional maps.