Since the regular, post-Census redistricting cycle in 2021, New York State has had three separate maps enacted.
The 2021 cycle, which was a complete disaster in and of itself, saw the fantasy-league Independent Redistricting Commission fail to reach a verdict, kicking the process to the Democrat-dominated State Senate. That map, appropriately dubbed the “Hochul-mander” was swiftly struck down by a Steuben County judge on appeal by Republicans. A special master was then appointed to draw a fairer map, one that, while healthily competitive, paved the way for the GOP to retake control of the U.S. House in 2022.
Democrats again decided to challenge that map on the basis of a constitutional technicality, allowing themselves to redraw the lines a third time not even halfway through the decade. While the lines didn’t move much, they are attributed to have aided two Democrats to win seats that might otherwise have been won by the GOP.
Now, Democrats are at it again, this time gunning for Staten Island parts of South Brooklyn, the former being a long-Republican enclave in an otherwise liberal bastion, and the latter being a red-trending area that has helped thin the margins in reliably Democratic territory.
Governor Kathy Hochul (D-Hamburg) vowed swift retribution for President Donald Trump’s (R-FL) redistricting arms race that he kicked off in August. That initiative has swept to Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina for the GOP, and California for the Democrats. Other states are involved in the mix, but their redraws are at varying levels of the process. States to keep your eyes on are Maryland, Virginia, Indiana, Kansas, South Carolina, and Florida.
However, New York’s laws prevent a unilateral, one-party takeover mid-decade, thankfully, remanding the at-large map to remain in place at least until 2028. So, Hochul’s punch would have had to be pulled for quite a while.
Enter a creative decision by a State Supreme Court Justice appointed by Hochul herself. The judge also served as special counsel to the Governor before his appointment to the state’s highest court. Justice Pearlman, prompted by a lawsuit from a flagrantly Democratic-aligned law firm whose stated mission is to help Democrats win elections, has ruled the Staten Island-based district racially biased against black and Latino voters.
Their solution? Axe the minority sections of south Brooklyn in exchange for affluent, white, liberal parts of Lower Manhattan.
This isn’t about racial politics; it’s simply about pure partisan lean. Pay no attention to the fact that Democrats were able to win this seat, albeit in an upset, in 2018 with no parts of Manhattan included.
The ruling is ironic as well, considering Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R, NY-11) is herself of Cuban and Greek descent.
The decision also perpetuates the insulting tone with which many Democrats use against minorities. To Democrats, a minority voter is not “properly represented” unless it’s by someone of their own community.
Malliotakis clearly isn’t the minority New York Democrats are looking for, despite those same voters ousting a Democrat to send her to Washington in 2020. Moreover, Trump’s 2024 margin in Staten Island – 63.9% of the vote – was the largest for any Republican presidential candidate since Warren G. Harding (R-OH) won in 1920. Trump’s 27% of the vote in Brooklyn was the best for a Republican presidential nominee since George H. W. Bush (R-TX) was elected in 1988.
Make no mistake: we don’t approve of Trump’s nationwide redistricting gamble. It’s a dumb move with terrible precedents, but New York Democrats are not entirely blameless here. The political retribution is understandable, but the reasoning is just downright demeaning to the very constituents whose interests they claim to uphold.
