ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s bipartisan redistricting commission on Thursday approved a new congressional map that makes modest changes to three competitive districts but does not substantially alter the rest of the state’s lines.
The map proposal now goes to the Democratic-dominated Legislature, which can approve or reject the plan and draw its own lines. It’s unclear exactly when lawmakers would meet to vote on the commission’s map.
New York’s congressional redistricting process has been closely watched this year because races in the state’s suburbs could have an outsized influence on which party controls the House after the November election.
The panel’s new map plan would likely help Democrats gain two seats and the Republican Party one seat, but leaves most current congressional districts largely in place. The move could help head off the kind of legal challenges that undermined Democrats’ efforts to dramatically redraw districts for 2022, but it is also unlikely to bring huge gains to the party.
The biggest change appears to be in the Central New York district currently held by Republican Rep. Brandon Williams. The commission would shift the district, which is above Syracuse, to the left-leaning cities of Auburn and Cortland.
The other notable adjustments would come in the neighboring Hudson Valley districts held by Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro and Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, with changes that appear to help both incumbents.
The plan would extend Ryan’s district north to Woodstock and surrounding Democratic-leaning areas. Molinaro’s district would expand to include Republican parts of the region.
“In a state where Democrats control both the Legislature and the governor’s office, I think Republicans have gotten quite a bit out of it,” said Jeffrey Wice, a professor at New York Law School who focuses on redistricting.
The state’s independent redistricting commission was supposed to determine the districts used in 2022 but failed to reach consensus, sending the process to state lawmakers.
The Democrats who control the Legislature then drew their own map, which was intended to give Democrats an advantage by cramming Republicans into a few super districts to dilute Republicans’ voting power across the state. A lawsuit eventually stopped the Democrats’ map from being used, and a legal challenge delayed the congressional primaries.
The state’s highest court then appointed an outside expert to come up with a 2022 map. Republicans performed well under those congressional rules, flipping seats in the New York City suburbs and gaining a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
After the defeats, Democrats filed a lawsuit to throw out the 2022 map. The case eventually reached the state Supreme Court, which ordered the drawing of a new map in December in a ruling that said the commission should be given another chance to draw district lines.
This time, the state’s redistricting commission was able to reach agreement on a map proposal, approving a plan very similar to the one drawn up by the court’s expert in 2022. The panel approved the map plan by a vote of 9-1 during a brief hearing in Albany, with one of the leaders saying they were using the existing map as a guide for the new proposal.
The proposal leaves Congress’s boundaries on Long Island, where fierce racial battles are expected to take place, largely unchanged, including the district previously held by George Santos, who was expelled from Congress and won this week by Democrat Tom Suozzi in a special election. New York City’s lines also appeared largely unchanged.
“It was important for us not to get involved in the process of confusing people out there about where they were going to vote,” said Charles Nesbitt, vice chairman of the redistricting commission.
Democratic leaders of the Senate and Assembly said they were reviewing the map and did not immediately comment on the proposal’s lines. Assembly Republican Minority Leader Will Barclay also said he was reviewing the map.
The Independent Redistricting Commission was created under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2014. The panel consists of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.
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Izaguirre reported from Lindenhurst, New York. Associated Press writer Michael Hill contributed to this report.
