New York panel sends proposed congressional map to Statehouse for approval

New York’s bipartisan committee voted overwhelmingly Thursday to send the proposed congressional map to the Democratic-controlled state Legislature for approval.

The Independent Redistricting Commission voted 9-1 to send the proposed route to the New York State Legislature for approval. This map is largely similar to the congressional map implemented last cycle, with two districts supporting Democrats and one district supporting Republicans.

The map will likely give a boost to Rep. Pat Ryan (DN.Y.) in the 18th Congressional District and Rep. Mark Molinaro (RN.Y.) in the 19th Congressional District. For Ryan, his seat would go from one where President Biden would have won by about 8.5 points in 2020 to one where President Biden would have won by more than 11 points.

In Mr. Molinaro’s case, his seat would tilt even more Republican, from a seat that Mr. Biden won by a 4.6-point margin in 2020 to a seat that the president won by a margin of about 1.5 percentage points.

This new line was a blow to U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams (R.N.Y.) of the 22nd Congressional District. The change would move his seat to one that the president would win by more than 11 points, up from a seat won by Biden by nearly 7.5 points in 2020.

The map must pass the state Legislature and be signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul before becoming law.

The commission was required to submit new maps to the state Legislature after Democrats won the lawsuit in December, and the New York Court of Appeals issued a bipartisan ruling after the redistricting process stalled during the 2022 cycle. He ordered the commission to provide new boundaries to state legislators.

The commission was unable to reach agreement on a set of maps during the midterm cycle, and the Democratic-controlled state Legislature submitted its own map, which Hochul later signed.

However, those maps were later scrapped and a court-appointed special master was ordered to draw Congressional boundaries instead, making a number of House seats held by a small number of Republicans up for grabs.

Democrats and Republicans alike see New York as a key state in determining their House majority this fall.