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Proposed NY map would place Hakeem Jeffries' home in his congressional district
By
Jon Campbell
Published Feb 16, 2024
Modified Feb 16, 2024
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Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
By
Jon Campbell
Published Feb 16, 2024
Modified Feb 16, 2024
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New York’s newly proposed congressional map would solve at least one potential headache for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: It would put his Prospect Heights home back within his district.
But the House Democratic leader isn't on board with the current proposal, with his spokesperson issuing a statement Friday that seemed to urge Democrats in Albany to vote it down.
The state Independent Redistricting Commission formally proposed a new layout for New York’s 26 congressional districts on Thursday, approving the new map with a 9-1 vote.
The state constitution prohibits the commission from drawing district lines that benefit or disadvantage incumbent lawmakers. But in at least three instances, the bipartisan commission conveniently shifted the congressional boundaries to move sitting House members’ homes into the districts they currently represent — including Jeffries, whose condo sits just outside his existing district.
Ken Jenkins, the commission’s Democratic chair, denied any suggestion that the mapmaking panel took incumbency into account.
“Our law requires us not to take into consideration incumbency to favor or disfavor any particular candidate,” he told reporters after Thursday’s commission meeting. “That doesn't take into consideration any of that.”
The U.S. Constitution requires congressional representatives to live in the state they represent at the time of their election — but not necessarily their district. But living outside of the district can be political fodder for opponents looking to discredit a candidate.
In 2022, at least eight of New York’s 26 House members won despite being registered to vote outside of their districts, which were redrawn by a court-appointed mapmaker the months before Election Day. Since then, two of those members — Hudson Valley Rep. Marc Molinaro and upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney, both Republicans — moved into the areas they represent.
The redistricting commission’s new map took care of three of the remaining six.
That includes Jeffries, who would be in line to become House speaker if Democrats are able to pick up a handful of seats in this year’s elections. Under the commission’s proposal, the Bed-Stuy portion of Jeffries' district would flatten out and shift west to pick up a portion of Prospect Heights, including his condo. His district would also pick up the Hanson Place block that includes the Shirley Chisholm State Office Building, where he maintains a district office.
Jeffries' spokesperson, Andy Eichar, issued a statement blasting the proposal, knocking it for splitting counties apart in the Hudson Valley and urging the Democrat-dominated Legislature to "meticulously scrutinize" it.
Now that the Independent Redistricting Commission has completed its work, it is important that the legislature ensure — as the Constitution contemplates — that the people of New York State be afforded a fairly drawn congressional map," Eichar said.
In the Albany area, longtime Democratic Rep. Paul Tonko's district would shift west to pick up the city of Amsterdam, where he lives. And in the Buffalo area, first-term Republican and former state GOP chair Rep. Nick Langworthy's district would jut out westward to pick up the town of Pendleton, which includes his home.
In a statement, Tonko said he appreciates that the commission "listened to hundreds of comments from across the Capital Region" who urged it to reunite Amsterdam with the Albany area. Langworthy's office declined to comment.
Of the three remaining members registered to vote outside their district, two — Brooklyn Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota — live far enough outside their district boundaries that it would have required a more-extensive redraw.
High-ranking Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is the exception. Her Schuylerville home would remain just a mile outside of her North Country-based district in northern New York, separated by the Hudson River. Stefanik, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, is vying to be his vice presidential candidate.
Standing alongside Jenkins, Charles Nesbitt — the Republican vice chair of the commission — also denied that the panel took incumbency into account in any way. He noted the commission’s proposed map is substantially similar to the map that’s already in place, sharing about 95% of the current lines.
“Good redistricting principles do require you to consider the cores of existing districts,” he told reporters.
Jeff Wice — a New York Law School professor who worked on New York redistricting cycles dating back to 1980 — said the commission hasn’t formally explained its thinking behind the new map, so it’s difficult to gauge whether the incumbents’ addresses came into play.
“A voter could bring legal action against the plan if it could be demonstrated that the commission acted in a way to favor an incumbent,” he said. “But the courts have also recognized that maintaining the core of existing districts is important, and the courts have often looked at incumbency protection as actually a valid factor in upholding a map.”
Karen Blatt, the redistricting commission’s co-executive director, said the panel’s leadership was “clear [Thursday] about not considering incumbents.”
“There were many considerations when preparing this plan, including maintaining the core of existing districts and keeping communities of interest together, which was a focus of this commission,” she wrote in an email.
The next step for New York’s congressional map will come later this month in Albany, when the state Legislature will have to decide whether to approve the commission’s map or reject it with a two-thirds vote.
If the map is rejected, the Legislature’s Democratic majorities can step in and make changes to the commission’s proposal — a move that could result in a more beneficial map for the Democratic Party ahead of the November elections. Republicans have threatened to sue if that’s the case.
So far, legislative leaders in Albany haven't made their opinion of the map known publicly. But the statement from Jeffries' camp on Friday is likely to carry some weight.
"There is reason to be concerned with the failure of the IRC to address many of the flaws in the current map drawn by an unelected, out-of-town special master in 2022," Eichar said in his statement.
State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs is expressing concern about the proposed districts, noting that some key Republicans — including Lee Zeldin, the GOP’s 2022 gubernatorial candidate — called on lawmakers to approve the new lines.
“We owe it to the public to carefully review these maps, especially in light of serious concerns being raised by various communities of interest,” he said in a statement.
This story was updated to include a statement from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries' spokesperson and additional information about Brooklyn Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota' s districts.
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Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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