New York's highest court rejects new congressional district maps
ALBANY, N.Y. -- There is election chaos in New York after the state's highest court ruled that state Democrats violated the constitution in drawing new districts for Congressional and state Senate seats.
The ruling ordered a court-appointed master to draw new lines for this year's crucial midterm elections, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Wednesday.
It's unclear at this point whether New York voters will have two primaries this year -- the one scheduled for June 28, which could include the races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller, and another one in August for Congressional races.
And it remains to be seen whether Senate and Assembly primaries would be held in June or August.
It's a mess.
"This puts a very big monkey wrench in the general and primary seasons," Kean University Provost Dean David Birdsell said.
That was Birdsell's assessment after a state judge struck down the 2022 Congressional redistricting maps as unconstitutional last month.
READ MORE: Judge rejects New York's redistricting plans, calls them unconstitutional
On Wednesday, the state Court of Appeals upheld that ruling, meaning that a special court-appointed master will have to redraw the lines before the primaries can be held.
It's complicated ruling because it struck down the lines for Congress and state Senate, but did not mention the state Assembly, or elections for statewide offices, leaving open the question of whether they can go ahead as scheduled in late June, or whether all the state primaries will be held more than a month later.
The ruling was a stinging defeat for Democrats who were counting on the new lines to help them pick up as many as three Congressional seats. The court said the lines, especially the Congressional districts, were gerrymandered.
"The lines, themselves, seem so wacky," Betsy Gotbaum said.
For example, the 11th Congressional District represented by Republican Nicole Malliotakis had included all of Staten Island and like-minded neighborhoods on the other side of the Verrazano Bridge, like Bay Ridge. It was redrawn and the conservative Brooklyn neighborhoods were replaced by the heavily Democratic neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Gowanus, and Park Slope.
"The Democrats are always looking for a way to get ahead. Staten Island is more Republican than Park Slope. It's a disadvantage," resident Anthony Bolanish said.
Eyebrows were also raised by Long Island Congressman Tom Suozzi's district, which under the new map would have gone across Long Island Sound as far as Westchester County's Rye Brook.
New York lost one Congressional seat. The new map intended to give Democrats a strong majority of voters in 22 of the state's 26 districts. Right now, Republicans currently hold eight of the state's 27 seats.
The Democrats had been hoping that picking up seats in New York would help offset expected losses in other states where Republicans control state government, and as candidates start to campaign for office there is nothing but uncertainty about which voters they need to make their case to.