A New York state court may have given national Democrats the edge they need to flip control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024.
After a lengthy legal saga, the appeals court on Thursday ordered state lawmakers to redraw competitive congressional maps the state had temporarily implemented for the 2022 midterm elections. The court sided with Democrats in a decision some observers believe will give liberals an electoral advantage in as many as a half-dozen districts across the Empire State that were previously deemed tossups.
For national Democrats, the decision is a significant one. While New York state politics rarely have much influence on the direction of the country, recent redistricting battles playing out at the state level have taken on new importance in a bitterly divided Congress where Republicans have only a 10-seat majority in the House.
And New York, which has not supported a Republican for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984, has long been seen as a reliable source of power for Democrats. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York City congressman, ascended to the post of House minority leader at the start of the congressional session.
That influence was tested in the 2022 midterms after the state's maps were redrawn by a neutral special master following moves by the Democratically controlled New York State Assembly to draw maps giving Democrats a statistical advantage in 22 of the state's 26 congressional districts while lumping most of New York's Republican voters into a handful of "super districts."
At the time, New York Republicans said those plans gave Democrats a disproportionately unfair advantage. A state court agreed and, shortly before the midterms, ordered the neutral special master to create a map in which nearly one in five seats across the state was considered to be competitive.
That ruling ultimately proved costly for national Democrats in a contentious election year in which New York's Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, faced an unusually formidable challenge from a Republican opponent. Under the court-drawn map, Republicans ultimately won 11 seats statewide, including four seats that were previously held by Democrats and six of which were won by President Joe Biden in 2020.
That number ultimately made the difference for Republicans in an election year in which their anticipated "red wave" was hampered by such factors as national outrage over the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade. However, Democrats said after the election that the court-appointed Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) failed to offer the Legislature numerous options to vote on—as is required by law. This prompted another lawsuit.
On Thursday, the appeals court agreed, writing in a majority opinion, "The right to participate in the democratic process is the most essential right in our system of governance."
The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court continued: "The procedures governing the redistricting process, all too easily abused by those who would seek to minimize the voters' voice and entrench themselves in the seats of power, must be guarded as jealously as the right to vote itself; in granting this petition, we return the matter to its constitutional design. Accordingly, we direct the IRC to commence its duties forthwith."
NEW: New York Court orders redistricting commission to reconvene and draw new congressional districts. The court found that the commission failed to comply with state law and fully complete its portion of the redistricting process. https://t.co/3ZlHjpd5at
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) July 13, 2023
The decision is another legal blow for national Republicans after a recent Supreme Court decision overturning racially gerrymandered maps in Alabama, which some believe will have ripple effects on similar plans in states like Mississippi and the Carolinas.
While Thursday's decision could have significant implications on the national map, the legal drama in New York is nowhere near over, according to New York Republicans.
"On to the Court of Appeals," former GOP New York congressman John Faso wrote in a statement provided to the press after the decision. "We remain confident the Court of Appeals will uphold the decision in Harkenrider v. Hochul—that the fair lines established by the District Court will be maintained and will preserve the New York Constitution's prohibition against mid-decade redistricting.
"The public should also understand what is really going on," he went on. "Democrats want to rig the congressional district lines in their favor. New York State now has more competitive congressional districts than any state in the nation."
Faso said the current districts are "fair" and "that is why Hakeem Jeffries and Albany Democrats are seeking to change the rules of the game."
