New York Democrats Approve New Congressional Map With Modest Changes

New York’s Democratic-controlled state Legislature approved a new congressional map Wednesday, just two days after rejecting the boundaries proposed by the state’s bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission.

To the surprise of many observers, however, Empire State Democrats ratified a map with only modest changes from either the commission’s proposal or the state’s current boundaries.

The new map provides a small boost to Democratic incumbents and candidates in competitive districts on Long Island, in the central Hudson Valley, and in central New York, rather than much larger advantages for the party in all of its competitive U.S. House seats.

The map was the product of negotiation between the state Senate, which wanted further-reaching changes, and the state Assembly and national Democrats, who supported smaller changes, according to multiple people familiar with deliberations.

Going small has its own upsides for Democrats. By pursuing fewer changes, Democrats hoped to avoid the legal and political hurdles that they encountered after a more ambitious redistricting effort in 2022 was struck down in court, plunging the state into a chaos that many believe hurt the party in the midterm elections that year.

“We had to come up with something that would withstand scrutiny under the legal strictures in the Constitution,” said state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D). “Nobody wanted to get tied up in litigation.”

Sure enough, several Republican state lawmakers found the map acceptable enough to support during Wednesday’s vote.

Under the guidance of U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklynite aiming to become speaker, Democrats hope to take back three seats that Republicans flipped in 2022,