Welcome to the Bronx: Dems Gerrymander LI into NYC, Westchester
By Rupert Deedes
The one-party Democratic state legislature passed a series of highly-gerrymandered redistricting maps last week, obliterating Republican representation in New York – perhaps forever.
In the new districts for US Congress, the Democrats drew districts resembling snakes and spiders – with tentacles and loops to take-in housing projects and merge the few remaining Republicans together to force Republican primaries.
The newly-drawn north shore 3rd Congressional district – which currently runs from Kings Park in Suffolk County to Whitestone in Queens, becomes an elongated snake, cutting-out neighborhoods in Nassau and Suffolk, to now cross over the Throggs Neck Bridge, into public housing projects in the Bronx; then snakes into Westchester all the way to the Connecticut border; and then snakes north another 25 miles to end at Westchester airport near White Plains.
The reason for the snakes and tentacles is clear: to drown-out Republicans on Long Island’s north shore, and swamp them with Democratic housing project residents in the Bronx and Rye.
Currently, New York is represented in Washington by 27 members of Congress: 19 Democrats and 8 Republicans. Under the Democrats’ new Gerrymander, the Republicans will lose 4 out of their 8 seats in Congress.
More tellingly, New York City – which currently has only one Republican, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of Staten Island and Brooklyn - will have no Republicans in Congress for the next decade, after the Gerrymander eliminated her seat.
“Who do the Democrats think is going to advocate for New York State and New York City when the Republicans take control again in Washington, which will happen sooner or later ?” asked a prominent Republican political strategist.
The practice of making congressional districts “non- competitive” has accelerated in the last four decades, as ever-more sophisticated software has allowed party strategists to identify voters’ preferences and clusters with growing precision.
Political campaign analysts note that in this year’s 2022 redistricting - which has already been completed and approved in 29 states - the number of “competitive” districts – defined as districts in which neither presidential candidate carried by more than 5% - will not exceed 40, out of 435 House seats. In 2012, the number of “competitive” districts was 73. In 1992, the number of “competitive” districts was 108.
In 2020, there were four districts in New York State where Joe Biden and Donald J. Trump were within five percentage points. Under the NY Democrats’ new Gerrymander, there are none.
“When I was a member of Congress, most members woke up concerned about a general election,” said former Rep Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills). “Now they wake up worried about a primary opponent.”
The 2012 redistricting of congressional lines was unique in modern New York history as being done by a neutral federal master, appointed by a federal judge. That happened because the then-Democrat State Assembly and the then-Republican State Senate deadlocked, throwing the redistricting to the Court.
But with the one-party Democratic take-over of Albany in 2018, there was no need to consult Republicans.
The new State Senate and State Assembly maps are equally Gerrymandered towards the Democrats. Unless Republicans start winning over 75% of the statewide vote, the Democrats Gerrrymander will guarantee permanent Democratic control of both houses of the NYS Legislature.
“As more and more single-party districts are taking the voters out of the equation,” said former Representative Tom Davis (R-VA). “November becomes a constitutional formality.”