Republicans Appeal New York Redistricting Decision That Could Give Democrats Advantage In 2024

Topline

A group of Republican voters is appealing a New York court’s decision from earlier this month that ruled the state’s Democrats could redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2024 election and replace the lines that favored Republicans in 2022 and allowed them to pick up congressional seats.

A group of voters appealed a state court decision that favored New York Democrats in a legal battle … [+] over the state’s congressional map.

AP Photo/Hans Pennink

Key Facts

A group of New York Republicans voters, who filed the widely-expected appeal on Tuesday, is objecting to New York appellate court Justice Peter Lynch’s order that the Independent Redistricting Commision submit a new congressional map.

The group of voters appealed the recent ruling to the New York Court of Appeals in an attempt to get the highest court in the state to renege on a court’s decision from earlier this month that ruled in favor of Democrats’ effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts

Big Number

4. That’s how many congressional seats New York Republicans were able to flip with the redrawn lines in the 2022 midterm elections.

Key Background

Earlier this month, a state Appellate Division court ruled the court-drawn districts put in place for the 2022 midterms were a temporary fix and ordered the state’s bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission to restart the drawing process. That decision gave the Democratic-controlled State Legislature final say over how the lines of the 26 New York House seats are drawn until the next census in 2030. The July ruling followed a 2022 lawsuit from Democrats who asked the bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the state’s congressional lines for the 2024 election and replace the court-drawn 2022 map. But the state court threw out a map drawn by Democrats ruling it amounted to “partisan” gerrymandering that unfairly favored one party.

What To Watch For

If the appeal doesn’t stand, and the court’s ruling moves forward in Democrats’ favor, it’s possible Democrats could draw maps that make reelection difficult for some incumbent Republicans such as Reps. Mike Lawker and George Santos. Flipping some of the seats could also help Democrats in their attempt to regain control of the U.S. House in 2024.