Draft Congressional Redistricting Map Affects Hudson Valley

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — A draft map of New York congressional districts posted online Monday would force two current Hudson Valley representatives into a Democratic primary.

The map provides the first look at a redistricting proposal ordered by judges who threw out Democratic-drawn districts statewide.

Under the plan, District 17 would include central-northern Westchester, all of Rockland and Putnam counties and the southeastern corner of Dutchess County.

District 18 would cover Orange County, most of Ulster and most of Dutchess.

The 17th CD is now held by Mondaire Jones. The current District 18 representative is Sean Patrick Maloney, who lives in Putnam.

The draft map would put the whole lower half of Westchester in with the Bronx and a sliver of Long Island as District 16. Yonkers resident Jamaal Bowman now represents District 16.

SEE: Ulster Exec Ryan To Run For Congress In New 18th District

The proposal was drawn by Jonathan Cervas, a court-appointed "special master." The maps' release is the latest tremor in a political earthquake in New York politics.

Statewide, New York is losing one congressional district, going from 27 to 26.

The state's top appeals court last month declared Democratic-drawn congressional and state Senate maps were unconstitutional and literally sent them back to the drawing board.
Democrats — who faced accusations they gerrymandered districts — were shut out of this process. A neutral expert — Cervas — was designated a "special master" to draw up new district lines.

But the decision doesn't extend to state Assembly districts, which were excluded from the original lawsuit on a technicality.

The situation has cast the state's upcoming primary into uncertainty. Congressional and state Senate primaries were moved back to Aug. 23 to give time for the new maps to be drawn, while state Assembly and other races remain at the original June 28 primary date.

Republicans sued to redraw Assembly districts, but last week upstate judges denied the request by essentially saying there's not enough time.

But late Sunday, a ragtag bipartisan group of politicos filed an emergency lawsuit in a New York City-based court to throw out the state's Assembly maps and consolidate all primaries to Aug. 23, or even to Sept. 13.

The lawsuit is brought by Democrats Paul Nichols and Gary Greenberg, who respectively ran for governor and state Senate, and New York Young Republican Club President Gavin Wax.

"No one disputes that the State Assembly district lines are unconstitutional, and the court now has the opportunity to ensure that a free and fair election is held," said Aaron Foldenauer, an attorney for Wax, in a statement. "This emergency proceeding is necessary because the two establishment parties have been attempting to justify an illegal act by running out the clock."

Patch Editor Matt Troutman contributed to this report.