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The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission approved a new potential district map for New York state Thursday. The most significant change to congressional lines would be made to the state’s 22nd Congressional District, which includes the city of Syracuse.

The deadline for the state to complete its redistricting process is Feb. 28, but it is “unclear” when the state legislature will review the new map, according to CNN.

The IRC failed to reach a consensus on a district map plan for the 2022 elections, which prompted state Democrats to draw their own. A lawsuit stopped the use of that map and the New York State Court of Appeals subsequently appointed an “outside expert” to draw a new map for 2022.

Republicans “performed well” in that year’s elections, which provoked a lawsuit by Democrats seeking to throw out the map. The lawsuit argued for the redrawing of district boundaries “because the court-ordered districts disregarded and marginalized some minority communities,” according to syracuse.com.

The lawsuit reached the state’s highest court, which ordered the drawing of a new map by the IRC in December. The new map looks “much like the one drawn by the court’s expert in 2022,” according to The Associated Press.

The plan is now moving to the state Senate and Assembly. Gov. Kathy Hochul has the final say on whether the new map plan will be signed into law. If rejected, Democratic legislators will have the option to draw their own map.

The Daily Orange broke down the IRC’s plan for the 22nd District and what it would mean for Syracuse voters.

The new 22nd District

District 22 currently includes the cities of Syracuse, Utica and Rome in the Onondaga, Madison and Oneida counties with small portions of Oswego County.

The new map would incorporate areas of northern Cortland and southern Cayuga counties, including the city of Auburn into the 22nd District. A northern portion of Oneida County, which includes Rome, would become part of the 21st District. The portion of Oswego County would be transferred to the 24th District.

Some Democrats claim the proposal “too closely resembled the very map they were trying to replace,” according to The New York Times.

Impacts on Republican Rep. Brandon Williams

As a Republican, the proposed map could greatly hurt Rep. Brandon Williams’s re-election chances in the 22nd District.

Democrats currently have a “20,000-voter edge” over Republicans in the district. The newly drawn district would have about 30,000 more enrolled Democrat voters than Republicans, according to preliminary calculations by Dustin Czarny, Onondaga County Board of Elections Commissioner.

According to Bloomberg Law, the proposed district’s population voted for Biden over Trump by 11 points in 2020, four more points than the current district.

The new lines of the battleground district may help Democrats secure a win in the November 2024 elections. The 22nd District is among 17 other districts currently represented by a House Republican than President Joe Biden won in 2020.

“Changing lines won’t change minds — voters want common sense and relief from Progressive fantasies,” Williams wrote in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, after the maps were released.

On Thursday, Williams alluded to State Sen. John Mannion, a Democrat running for his seat, making a “backroom deal” with the redistricting commission for more favorable lines on X.

Mannion denied the idea, calling it “desperate.”

“I’m voting on 26 congressional districts and that is my job. That is the expectation of the people who elected me to office, is that when there is a piece of legislation that I research it, that I’m informed and that I vote accordingly as a good reflection of the district,” Mannion told WRVO.

Williams previously made a campaign promise of moving into the district he represents but backed off the promise due to the ongoing redistricting process. Sennett, the town Williams lives in, would fall within the new district.

Next steps

The new district maps will go to the NY State Assembly and Senate for a vote. The final decision would then be up to Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, to sign the maps into law.

“The Senate Majority is eager to review the proposed map,” said Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the State Senate’s majority leader, in a statement to CNN. “We plan to discuss and decide our subsequent actions soon.”

State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs said the maps would require “a thorough examination.”

If Hochul or other lawmakers reject the maps, the legislature, in which the Democrats hold a supermajority, would draw its own congressional district maps — a situation similar to the IRCs failure to reach a consensus in 2022.

Published on February 19, 2024 at 12:59 am

Contact Kendall: kaluther@syr.edu