Draft of new New York congressional lines released by special master

Court appointed special master with the task of drawing New York’s new congressional and state Senate maps released a preliminary draft of the new congressional boundaries Monday the state will have for the next decade.

An interactive version of the map was posted online by Jonathan Cervas, a scholar on apportionment who was tasked with the job.

Every district was drawn to have between 776,970 and 776,972 constituents per congressional seat.

The senior fellow at the N.Y. Census & Redistricting Institute at New York Law School. Jeff Wice said “We don’t have contorted or oddly shaped maps or districts. Nearly all of them are more compact now. They seem to reflect more communities and counties kept in tact.”

The 21st District, currently represented by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, extends south to include all of Montgomery and Schoharie counties and northern Saratoga County.

“I look forward to running for re-election in NY-21 where I have been honored and humbled to earn historic support every election cycle!” Stefanik said in a statement after the map’s release. “I will always work my very hardest to deliver real results for the hardworking families in Upstate New York and the North Country.”

The 24th District continues to largely include Lake Ontario shoreline areas from extreme eastern Erie County to Jefferson County, save for the Greater Rochester area.

“The map maintains Democratic strongholds in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, and also maintains a Southern Tier district,” Wice said. “Overall, the districts are very compact across the state. The downstate districts are very compact.”

The maps also change the dynamic in downstate New York with the 3rd Congressional District including parts of Nassau and Queens counties.

The new map places more Democratic neighborhoods of Brooklyn in the 11th District represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, and creates a separate district in lower Manhattan that extends into areas of Brooklyn, likely ensuring Jerry Nadler’s re-election.

The New York City district of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat, was limited to the East and West sides of Manhattan.

The new state Senate boundaries were expected to be published later Monday afternoon.

“Barring any technical or mapping errors, the court is unlikely to make any substantive changes,” Wice said.

Primaries for U.S. House and state Senate races were pushed back to Aug. 23. The primary election for the statewide offices and state Assembly races will take place June 28.

A new redistricting challenge to the state Assembly maps started Monday by Republican activist Gavin Wax, Democratic Greene County businessman Gary Greenberg and Paul Nichols, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. McCallister ruled last week there is insufficient time to redraw the Assembly maps, which he said were drawn improperly, but were not part of the initial legal challenge.

Wice said the new challenge to the Assembly maps will be difficult to prove after McCallister’s decision last week.

“The complaint filed this morning seeks to invalidate the map that Judge McCallister already has approved for use this year,” he added. “It’s really late to try to do that, especially in light of Judge McCallister’s decision.”