New York Democrats Finally Have All Clear To Unf**k Congressional Maps
New York Democrats Finally Have All Clear To Unf**k Congressional Maps
We might flip that House yet.
The New York Court of Appeals ordered on Tuesday that the state redraw its current congressional maps. This is what we’ve been waiting for since Chief Judge Janet DiFiore abruptly resigned from the state’s top court in July 2022. Just a couple months earlier, DiFiore, an Andrew Cuomo appointee, said the congressional and state legislative maps Democrats originally drew were “procedurally unconstitutional.”
The replacement maps were a complete disaster, pitting Democratic incumbents against each other in new districts, and dulling the edge for Democrats almost everywhere else. New York should’ve proven a firewall against a potential Red Wave but instead provided the key Republican upsets — hello, George Santos! — necessary for a MAGA-controlled House.
Gov. Kathy Hochul replaced DiFiore last year with a liberal — eventually (there was a weird false start there), and the new full-on liberal majority voted four to three to shred the old crummy maps and start over.
A quick recap of this drama: New York voters approved a constitutional amendment that had a bipartisan commission draw supposedly very fair, lovey-dovey maps. These bipartisan geniuses, however, couldn’t agree on anything before the deadline, so the Democrat-controlled state Legislature took a crack at the maps. Republicans sued and that’s when the Court of Appeals screwed us all.
Democrats have appealed this case for a while now, but I’d like to believe any ruling that leads to the election of George Santos should get immediately overturned on general principle. During recent oral arguments, a Republican lawyer insisted that Democrats hadn’t learned their lesson from their past attempt to redraw the maps and if they were given a second chance, they would immediately engage in what he called “a festival of gerrymandering,” which is probably not as much fun as it sounds.
Tuesday’s decision is a major win for Democrats and democracy overall. Now, at least five Mike Johnson-supporting Republicans are looking at much grimmer prospects for 2024. This includes Nick LaLota (NY-01), Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04), Mike Lawler (NY-17), Marc Molinaro (NY-19), and Brandon Williams (NY-22). Santos’s currently vacant seat in New York’s Third Congressional District might also prove harder for a Republican to win. That’s more than enough to hand the gavel to Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who isn’t a seditious religious zealot.
Republicans, who obviously opposed redrawing the maps, are prepared to duke it out in court if the replacement maps violate the state’s gerrymander ban. Republicans of course have no problem with their overtly partisan if not openly racist gerrymanders in many other states, such as Alabama, Ohio, and Florida.
North Carolina Republicans passed an absurdly gerrymandered map back in October that’s likely to eliminate at least half of the Democrats representing the state in the US House. This is thanks to the newly installed far-right state supreme court that functions as an extension of the Republican state Legislature. I think the justices just use giant rubber stamps instead of gavels.
I’m not personally a fan of obviously partisan maps — voters should pick their representatives, not the reverse — but I don’t support unilateral disarmament because I’m not a chump. I’m glad to see Democrats not acting so pious that they look like chumps.
PREVIOUSLY!
Ta, Stephen. I loathed and detested what happened in my state. For one thing, my brilliant and kind Rep, Carolyn Maloney, was forced to run against Jerry Nadler. I believe she lost because The NY Times endorsed him. She was chair of Oversight, now under the idiot thumb of James "The Moron" Comer. My current Rep is the brilliant Dan Goldman, but I hope the maps are untucked sufficiently for us to win back our majority. No more Santoses, no more Stefaniks, no more Molinaros. Please.
Would a "Festival of Gerrymandering" look anything like a "Carnival of Snackery"? Would it a least be entertaining?