New York Democrats propose tilting new congressional map in their favor

CNN —

Democrats who control the New York state Legislature unveiled a new congressional map Tuesday that is expected to give their party a moderate boost in their effort to flip the US House in the November elections.

The new district lines, which lawmakers hope to quickly approve, were released a day after Democrats in the legislature rejected a map crafted by the New York Independent Redistricting Commission, in favor of drawing their own.

Democrats’ map would improve their chances of picking up seats in as many as two districts, experts say, but it avoided an aggressive partisan gerrymander that could have dramatically boosted Democratic prospects of a House takeover. The state is considered an epicenter of the fight over control of the House, where Republicans hold a paper-thin majority. GOP gains in the Empire State in 2022 helped Republicans seize control of the lower chamber in that year’s midterm elections.

“The map makes modest changes at the margins,” said Jeffrey Wice, a redistricting expert and an adjunct professor at New York Law School. “It’s by no means the type of plan that Republicans feared.”

State lawmakers left in place the commission’s boundaries for a central New York seat represented by freshman Republican Brandon Williams, which includes more territory favorable to Democrats and could result in a Democratic pickup in the fall. But Democrats in the state Legislature also made a Hudson Valley seat now held by another Republican freshman, Marc Molinaro, more competitive than the commission’s compromise map had.

The US Capitol is seen at sunrise in Washington, DC, on October 18, 2023.

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