New York state Legislature rejects proposed House maps 

The New York State Legislature on Monday voted to reject new congressional districts proposed by a bipartisan committee, throwing the state’s House of Representatives into turmoil.

The New York State Senate rejected a set of congressional boundaries proposed by the bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) by a vote of 40-17, and the state Assembly rejected the maps by a vote of 99-47.

New York state lawmakers are now expected to introduce their own policies, creating new headaches over what the House map will look like ahead of the looming April 4 candidate filing deadline. ing.

The House of Representatives map introduced by the IRC mainly made changes to three Congressional districts. This makes the seats of Rep. Pat Ryan (DN.Y.) in the 18th Congressional District and Rep. Mark Molinaro (RN.Y.) in the 19th District more favorable to their respective parties. It will become a thing. That would have made Rep. Brandon Williams (RN.Y.)’s seat in the 22nd Congressional District more Democratic.

The new House map was introduced after Democrats won a lawsuit that gave the IRC a second chance to present a set of policies to Congress after a previous deadlock. A court-appointed special master had drawn up a set of lines used in November’s midterm elections that allowed Republicans to pick up a handful of seats, and Democrats were eager to redo the maps.

The IRC voted 9-1 to pass the new map earlier this month. The New York Republican Party supported the IRC map, noting that it offered only minor changes to the House map currently in place.

“The IRC’s proposed congressional district boundaries represent slight changes to the existing boundaries imposed by the Harkenrider Court,” New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox said in a statement.

“The current House districts are among the most competitive in the nation and are the result of New York Republican Party lawsuits over illegal gerrymandering attempts by Democrats in Albany and Washington in 2022.”

But state Democrats quickly voiced opposition to the map, creating new headaches for an Empire State whose election cycle was already punctuated by redistricting challenges.

“We owe the public a careful review of these maps, especially in light of the serious concerns raised by a variety of concerned communities,” New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said in a statement. ” he said.

“The fact that Lee Zeldin endorsed this map, which sought to overturn the will of the voters on January 6th and undermined the foundations of our democracy, should give us all pause and thorough consideration. We need it, and that’s what Congress is going to do,” Jacobs said. He spoke about the former New York state congressman and 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate.

Zeldin was one of dozens of Republicans who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The state Legislature’s rejection of the IRC line increases uncertainty about what the legislative line will be, impacting where candidates run and whether voters will have to vote in later preliminary dates. It is possible to give

“Democrats have spent the past three years trying to undermine the redistricting amendment,” Cox said in a statement, slamming the vote.

“They should have been ashamed when they were caught red-handed with unconstitutional gerrymandering in 2022. But Albany Democrats have no capacity for shame. They are trying to rig elections in the back rooms,” he continued. “This is the predictable result of a power-drunk legislature ignoring the will of the people.”

Hill has reached out to the state Democratic Party for comment.