New York Democrats in the state’s Senate rejected a bipartisan congressional map on Monday, setting up the opportunity to redraw House districts that could give Democrats control of Congress.
On the New York Senate floor, Democrats criticized the maps for splitting counties. The party will now have the opportunity to draw their own lines, but Republicans are already threatening a legal challenge to challenge the new maps, according to the Associated Press.
“Since the creation of the IRC, Democrats have continually circumvented the will of New Yorkers and attempted to rig the system to benefit themselves. When their last gerrymander was struck down, they stacked the Court of Appeals in an attempt to get a different result,” state Senate Republican leader Rob Ortt said in a statement following the vote.
“It is once again painfully obvious that Albany Democrats don’t care about the millions of New Yorkers who demanded a fair and transparent redistricting process — they only care about their own political self-interests,” Ortt added.
Earlier this month, the Independent Redistricting Commission approved a congressional map, one that looked similar to the current map that helped Republicans pick up seats in 2022 and win the U.S. House majority.
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The commission was tasked with delivering new maps to the state legislature after Democrats won a lawsuit in December. The New York Court of Appeals asked for updated lines following the redistricting process during the 2022 cycle, in which the redistricting commission failed to establish new lines. Republicans then picked up four seats during the 2022 midterm elections.
After a lengthy battle, New York Democrats shut down the commission’s map on Monday. Politicoreported that Democrats will likely draft a map that varies slightly from the IRC’s map, giving Democrats an advantage. The Democratic-controlled legislature will draw and vote on the new map for the state’s 26 congressional districts as early as this week.
