Redistricting panel approves new Congressional maps for N.Y., sends to Legislature for approval

Feb. 15—ALBANY — New Yorkers could soon see their Congressional district lines shift before they vote for their House Representative later this year, although changes in upstate New York are minimal in the latest maps approved by the Independent Redistricting Commission.

The commission for the first time agreed to a single map, laying out district lines for the 26 Congressional Districts in New York, voting 9-1 Thursday afternoon to send the map to the state Legislature from a hearing room in the state Capitol.

In the maps put forward, shared in a detailed plan available at nyirc.gov, changes to the district lines established in 2022 appear minimal, but would likely net Democrats one additional seat in upstate New York.

In the north country, the 24th Congressional District, represented today by Congresswoman Claudia L. Tenney, R-Cleveland, continues to hold western Jefferson County, including Watertown the towns of Rutland and Champion, and most of the river towns along the St. Lawrence. The 21st Congressional District, represented by Congresswoman Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, continues to hold eastern Jefferson County, including the town of LeRay and Fort Drum, as well as the rest of the north country and parts of the Capital Region far outside Albany.

The big difference in Jefferson County is for town of Alexandria residents — the town is switched to the 24th Congressional District, where it was put in NY-21 in the last redistricting process. Stefanik's NY-21 will continue to hold most of Fort Drum, but a sliver of the post at Great Bend along State Route 3 remains part of Tenney's NY-24.

NY-21 also gains some of northern Oneida County, and loses some towns in the Capital District.

NY-24 also gains some towns in the southern Finger Lakes area, northern Orleans County along Lake Ontario and the area of Youngsown, Ransomville and the Tuscarora Nation in Niagara County.

The plan goes to the Democrat-led state legislature, which will not return to Albany for business until Feb 26. Lawmakers there can choose to approve the plan, which makes few if any changes in favor of their party's Congressional aspirations, or disapprove it and put forward their own plan that could be more favorable, but would once again keep the IRC from submitting an approved Congressional map. The IRC, created in 2014, has never had one of its Congressional maps approved by the legislature — in 2021, after the 2020 census and the reapportionment process began, the Democrats and Republicans on the commission failed to agree on a final map. They submitted two partisan options, neither of which were approved by the legislature. The legislature put forward its own plan that heavily favored Democrats, which was struck down by the state courts. In 2022, the state Court of Appeals appointed a special master to draw maps without partisan input, resulting in the current maps in place.

The current New York Congressional map has been given some credit for providing the largest number of swing districts New York has seen in years, and ultimately electing a number of Republican freshmen in 2022 that helped the Republican Party take control of the House of Representatives.

New York's abnormal redistricting process, which restarted again in December when the Court of Appeals again ruled on the process, with a new chief justice and a substitution for a justice who recused themselves. The 2023 ruling found that the special masters maps were not meant to stand for the remainder of the decade, and instead the IRC and legislature should be given a 'do-over,' to complete the process as mandated in the state Constitution.

Republicans cried foul, saying that Democrats were playing dirty in an attempt to undo the Republican victories in the downstate and Hudson Valley swing districts.

"The decision today opens the door for Democrats to rig our Constitutional district lines so that elections are decided not by the voters, but by politicians in a back room," said Stefanik and NY Republican Chairman Edward F. Cox, in a joint statement on the day the court ruled to restart the redistricting process.

The process isn't over yet, and the Democrat-controlled legislature can still reject what was sent by the IRC and draw their own maps, but it appears that the IRC's map remains relatively competitive in the downstate and Hudson Valley districts that were swing districts in 2022.

As they are redrawn by the IRC, it appears that the Syracuse-based NY-22, represented today by Congressman Brandon M. Williams, R-Sennett, has picked up areas in south-Central New York with more Democratic voters in that could tip that swing district back in favor of Democrats. The current district goes into the Adirondack Mountains and the more Republican-heavy towns in northern Oneida County, while the redrawn district still includes Utica, but does not include Rome or northern Oneida County.

Northern Oneida County would be picked up by the firmly Republican NY-21.

Other apparent electorate shifts came in the Hudson Valley, where Representative Marcus J. Molinaro, R-Tivoli, who represents the Hudson Valley just south of the Capital District and part of the Southern Tier, would pick up more Republican voters in Orange County, while Representative Patrick K. Ryan, D-Kingston, would pick up more heavily Democratic regions in Ulster County.

It now goes to the state legislature to decide what comes next. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said in a statement on Thursday afternoon that her Democratic colleagues were "eager to review the proposed map submitted by the IRC."

"We plan to discuss and decide our subsequent actions soon, taking into account the election cycle calendar," she said. "This process is critically important and we are committed to concluding it in a manner that upholds fairness and democracy."

The designating petition process, where candidates get signatures from party or non-partisan voters to appear on the primary ballot in June or general election ballot in November, starts on Feb. 27, just one day after the legislature is next scheduled to vote in Albany.

Mike Whyland, communications director for Speaker of the Assembly Carl E. Heastie, D-Bronx, said only that the speaker plans to review the maps.

Before the maps were even formally submitted, some members of the Senate Democratic majority expressed distaste for what the IRC was putting forward. Senator James Skoufis, D-Middletown, released a statement before the IRC hearing began on Thursday denouncing the maps for splitting his home of Orange County between two Congressional districts.

"The only thing 'bipartisan' about the Independent Redistricting Commission's proposal is that both parties are seeking to protect their incumbents," he said. "In fact, the most meaningful edit to the map sacrifices Orange County at the altar of partisanship, splitting the currently-unified county into two congressional districts in an attempt to protect one incumbent from each party. These maps are a disgrace and ought to be rejected by the legislature."