The Point: NY and LI redistricting enter the U.S. spotlight
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Credit: AP/Andrew Harnik
Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who also is an upstate member of the New York delegation, drew a lion’s share of attention on the redistricting front Thursday by circulating a wished-for plan that could reduce the number of "safe" Republican seats statewide to only three from a current eight.
With New York losing a seat due to population shifts, Maloney presents the hypothetical possibility of a 23-3 Democratic edge in the delegation rather than the current 19-8. Some excited Democrats even speculated about a 24-2 edge in New York going into November’s crucial House midterms.
On Long Island, the plan is advertised as protecting the GOP incumbency of Bayport Republican Andrew Garbarino. Maloney’s DCCC lines would be drawn in such a way as to contain the Island’s Republican strength within the 1st Congressional District, to which Garbarino could jump from his current CD2, according to Twitter postings by David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report.
CD1 is the current domain of Republican Lee Zeldin of Shirley, who’s vacating the seat to run for governor. Other Democratic proposals, such as the plan put forward within the now-derailed Independent Redistricting Commission, also reshape the border between CD1 and CD2, so some modification there has been expected all along. The partisan presumption is that Democrats would be able to win the newly drawn CD2 and hold on to CD3 and CD4 as well.
The other Republicans supposedly not targeted for possible electoral elimination by the Democratic supermajority in the State Legislature are far from Long island — Elise Stefanik, now a national GOP figure, and Chris Jacobs.
Maloney’s manipulation could render unsafe for reelection incumbent Staten Islander Nicole Malliotakis — and Claudia Tenney and John Katko (who is not running for reelection) would have their current residences pushed into the same district, combining Syracuse, Ithaca and Utica. GOP incumbent Tom Reed from Corning is also not seeking another term.
Malliotakis issued a statement Thursday deploring the DCCC plan, by which her district would reach across water into lower Manhattan: "To entertain a map drawn by Nancy Pelosi's chief campaign operative and head of a DC organization focused on only electing Democrats to Congress is highly inappropriate, defies the will of New York's voters and is a direct assault on the state constitution.
"They know they can't win on policy, merit, or debate so this is a desperate attempt to tilt the scale to give Democrats an advantage."
Nothing is final yet. Furthermore, Albany insiders said with assurance on Thursday that the legislative proposal due out by the weekend and due to be submitted for Assembly and Senate approval next week, is significantly different from Maloney’s congressional plan for New York.
That includes all the congressional "hot spots": namely Suffolk, Staten Island, and Western New York, where the lines "do not resemble" what Maloney is pushing for, a state source said.
One thing the coming disclosure of the Senate-Assembly plan for congressional seats may show is just how committed Albany Democrats may be to the electoral goals of the national party — at a time when Republican line-drawing in other states is scrutinized for fairness.
That’s where party politics and impartial governance could start to chafe.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
