(The Center Square) — Democrats are targeting a Republican-held congressional seat with a new lawsuit arguing the district’s boundaries “unconstitutionally” weaken the political influence of Black and Latino voters.
In the lawsuit, filed Monday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, a group of Staten Island and Brooklyn voters ask a judge to redraw the boundaries of the 11th Congressional District — the city’s only Republican district, currently held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis — to create what they called a “minority-influence” seat.
“The racial demographics of Staten Island have changed significantly over the last several decades, but the 2024 Congressional Map does not reflect those changes,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in the 29-page complaint.
The plaintiffs, who are represented by the Elias Law Group, said the current boundaries of NY-11 “confine Staten Island’s growing Black and Latino communities in a district where they are routinely and systematically unable to influence elections for their representative of choice, despite the existence of strong racially polarized voting and a history of racial discrimination and segregation on Staten Island.”
“Instead of reflecting the demographic changes, the 2024 Congressional Map ensures that the growth of CD-11’s Black and Latino populations will not translate to increased political influence at the federal level,” they said.
The plaintiffs want the district redrawn to connect Staten Island to parts of lower Manhattan, which could reshape the state’s congressional landscape and peel the seat away from Republicans.
New York’s bipartisan redistricting commission approved a plan last year after the state’s highest court ordered new congressional maps to be drawn for the 2024 election. The ruling was viewed as a major win for Democrats seeking to redraw the state’s maps after a chaotic redistricting process during the November 2022 midterm elections.
Republicans sought unsuccessfully to block the redraw maps, which were signed into law by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Earlier this year, Hochul vowed to redraw the blue state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats after the Texas’ Legislature moves ahead with a GOP-led redistricting plan ahead of next year’s midterm election. New York’s congressional districts are currently split 19 to 7 in favor of Democrats, who currently control the state Legislature and the governor’s office.
Republicans blasted Monday’s lawsuit as more Democratic meddling in the redistricting process and vowed that the legal challenge would be defeated.
“Democrats led by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Gov. Kathy Hochul are trying to gerrymander New York’s congressional maps for the THIRD time, disregarding the state constitution and the will of the voters,” Rep. Mike Lawler posted on social media Monday. “We will not sit idly by. They must be defeated.”
New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox called the lawsuit a “frivolous attempt” to circumvent the state constitution and recent rulings by the state Court of Appeals.
“Democrats attempted an outrageous gerrymander of the 11th congressional district when they adopted their plan in 2022,” he said. “Fortunately, the courts at every level over rejected their plan.”
“Everyone should see this effort for what it is; a naked attempt to disenfranchise voters in NY-11 and elect a Democrat to this congressional district, contrary to the will of the voters,” Cox added.
