New York’s new bipartisan redistricting commission began Wednesday with an unusual start, as its Democratic and Republican members failed to reach an agreement on an initial set of legislative and congressional map proposals.
In contrast, the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission, the bodyrgan empowered by voters to remove the policy from the mapping process, said it would proceed for now with two competing proposals, one drafted by its Democratic members and one by Republicans.
With the forecast that New York will lose a seat in the Congress delegation after last year’s census, both sides proposed collapsing a northeastern district, where the population has dwindled.
But the Republican plan would do so by rearranging a handful of districts in the Hudson Valley and the capital region that could clash among Democratic incumbents, while preserving the shapes of rural red seats in the western part of the state. Democrats are proposing the opposite, potentially displacing Republican headlines in central and western New York, while defending the headlines of Hudson Valley Democrats.
Other big differences were obvious. While Republicans would redraw lines across New York City, potentially endangering several longtime Democrats in Manhattan and Brooklyn, they would basically leave intact the Staten Island-based district now owned by Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican.
Democrats, on the other hand, would leave the city lines more intact, but would redraw Mrs. Malliotakis ’seat to include Coney Island in Brooklyn, which is largely Democratic, an action that would make the district more competitive. His map also appeared to create a new opportunity for Long Island Democrats to get a seat.
Nothing in the New York State Constitution requires that the commission, which draws lines for the first time since it was created in 2014, agree on a single set of maps for the congressional, assembly and Senate districts of New York State. the state at this point in the process. But the partisan dispute over a preliminary discussion does not drive optimism that the commission could unite around a set of bipartisan maps to present to Albany for ratification.
Its failure could pave the way for Albany’s Democratic super-majorities to step in to determine the final maps early next year. Party leaders there and in Washington are already circulating quietly in case the commission is unable to reach a final agreement or produce a final result like the party leaders. They hope to use the process to destroy up to five seats in the Republican Congress, pushing the party across the country as it tries to maintain a narrow majority in the House and consolidate permanent majorities in the legislature.
Under the New York Constitution, the redistricting commission is the leader in mapping. But if it does not reach a consensus among themselves or offers lawmakers a map they do not like, the legislature can outdo the body and establish almost any map it chooses, as long as the districts meet constitutional requirements and are roughly equal. size.
Republicans in New York and Albany are already arguing with the process and could challenge the outcome in court, which drew the current map of Congress in 2012 amid a partisan dispute in Albany.
Republican commissioners wasted little time pointing fingers at their Democratic counterparts, whom they accused of cutting off talks in recent days that had been meant to try to reconcile competition maps. In private, Republicans fear Democratic commissioners have no intention of finding a deal and prefer to let the body fail so they can start the process directly in the legislature to draw more advantageous maps for their party.
“The constitution is pretty clear on what we’re supposed to do: they appointed the commission as an independent body so that it has to work together and find a way forward without a party talking about things,” said Jack Martins, Republican vice president of the commission said in an interview. “The fact that part of the commission has decided to move away from that is very disappointing.”
Democrats argued that competition maps could be a good thing, allowing voters to give information about what they liked best. Commissioners stressed that the presentation of two sets of maps on Wednesday did not close the door on the possibility that they would finally find consensus before the January deadline.
“We could draw these maps with a smoky zoom in 48 hours or we could post the maps to the public and let the public weigh in,” said David Imamura, the nominated Democrat who chairs the panel. “In the interest of public participation, we decided to publish both sets of maps.”
Members of Congress from both parties largely withheld comments, though Ms Malliotakis said she was not concerned.
“Regardless of the final configuration of the district, I am very confident that I will be re-elected next year,” he said.
New York voters created the Independent Commission for Constitutional Amendment in 2014, but its outlines were the product of a compromise between Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Republicans, who at the time controlled the State Senate. . The idea was to draw the line from the hands of politicians in the legislature eager to protect their party and its incumbents and give it, from this year, to a bipartisan body that could divide the state fairly. .
But the commission struggled to assert its independence from the outset and critics say its structure (with most appointed by party leaders in the legislature) greatly complicates engagement.
The panel did not receive funding from Albany until April, forcing commissioners to volunteer for months. Instead, the legislature has continued to fund its own mapping working group year after year.
The group did not receive detailed census data until last month due to national delays; it is still awaiting official data on the state’s prison population that the commission needs to fine-tune its maps. And even as the commission prepared to release the maps, another hiccup emerged: its website crashed briefly on Wednesday.