Desperate Democrats Gerrymander New York

Democrats, fearing a wipeout in this year’s midterm elections, egregiously gerrymandered New York in a desperate attempt to salvage Nancy Pelosi’s thin majority.

New York Times: Democrats across the nation have spent years railing against partisan gerrymandering, particularly in Republican states… But given the same opportunity for the first time in decades, Democratic lawmakers in New York adopted on Wednesday an aggressive reconfiguration of the state’s congressional districts that positions the party to flip three seats in the House this year, a greater shift than projected in any other state.

Legal and political experts immediately criticized the new district contours as a blatant and hypocritical partisan gerrymander. And Republicans, who were powerless to stop it legislatively in Albany, threatened to challenge the map in court under new anti-gerrymandering provisions in New York’s Constitution, though it was unclear if they could prove partisan intent.

The new map, signed into law on Feb. 3, goes to extreme lengths to eliminate three Republican-held seats and reduce the competitiveness of swing districts to protect liberal incumbents. Even the liberal Brennan Center called the map “agressive” and “radically” redrawn. The New York Times wrote that the new 10th district, drawn for Jerrold Nadler, is “comically gerrymandered”.

New York Times: Indeed, with its serpentine shape, Mr. Nadler’s reimagined district — New York’s 10th — is almost comically contorted and overwhelmingly favors Democrats. It stretches 15 miles through 15 different State Assembly districts from Mr. Nadler’s home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to Brooklyn, jumping over New York Harbor and making three sharp turns to take in small strips of Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill, before broadening out to encompass all of Prospect Park, Borough Park and Bensonhurst.

Republicans immediately slammed the new map, and called Democrats out for their hypocrisy. New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, whose district was sabotaged, called the new maps a “desperate attempt to tilt the scales”.

New York Post: “The people of this district and the state of New York voted not once, but twice, for non-partisan redistricting. To gerrymander a blatantly partisan map dilutes the voice of my constituents, defies the will of New York’s voters, and is a direct assault on the state constitution,” Malliotakis said.

“Democrats know they can’t win on policy, merit, or debate, so this is just another desperate attempt to tilt the scale to their advantage, just as they’ve attempted to pack the Supreme Court, change the filibuster, or pass radical election law changes. Despite their charades, we’ve prevailed before and will do so again.”

Bottom Line: New York’s gerrymander is Democrats’ latest and most desperate attempt yet to maintain their narrow House majority.