‘Extinction Level Event’ Looms as the New York Redistricting Map Forces High Profile Democrats to Face Each Other In Primaries – Opinion

Redistricting provides an inexhaustible source of revenue. schadenfreudeRepublicans and conservatives as an attempt to power grab Democrats. Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis forced a senile state legislature to act (Ron DeSantis & the Constitution Score Big Over the Activist Left and Rule By Random Judge), increasing the number of Republican-held seats to 11 from 17. Kansas changed the status of Kansas’ only Democrat-held seat from a D+4 to an R+3. New York has seen the greatest excitement, with a Democratic bare-knuckle manipulation of the electoral system.

The original proposal by New York Democrats created a map with 19 Democrat seats, 4 GOP seats, and 3 “competitive” seats. The state court ruled against it and, excepting a deus ex machina event at tomorrow’s hearing, imposed a map of 16 Democrats, 5 Republicans, and 5 competitive seats. Bonchie, my co-author has written about the details of Court-Ordered New York RedistrictingMap Is Lights Out for Democrats.

Many Democrats have suffered a potentially fatal blow in their political lives as a result. The New York Times says Democrats view this map as an “extinction-level event.” The most amusing aspect of the new map is the number of big-name Democrats pitted against one another.

Both Hakeem Jeffreys and Yvette Clark now live in the exact same congressional district. Fortunately, there is an open seat in a newly created, heavily Democratic district nearby that I’m sure one of them will take. Carolyn  Maloney and Fat Jerry Nadler also live in the same district. Both seem destined to fight in the primary. Popcorn, gotta buy popcorn.

The real fun starts with the saga of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Sean Patrick Maloney and freshman Democrat Mondaire Jones in the court’s version of NY-17. Maloney represented an even R. v. D district. Jones won in D+17. They now live in D+7. Moloney is running for Jones’ seat in the primary, although there is a D+2 open seat nearby. He didn’t merely decide; he announced his decision on Twitter before talking to Jones.

Although drawing these maps in the absence of the legislature would be against the voters’ will, if I am able to finalize the maps, then I will run for New York’s 17th Congressional District. NY-17 covers my hometown and the Hudson Valley communities that I represent.

— Sean Patrick Maloney (@spmaloney) May 16, 2022

New: Rep Mondaire Jones (D) to me on SPM’s decision to run in #NY17

“Sean Patrick Maloney did not even give me a heads up before he went on Twitter to make that announcement. And I think that tells you everything you need know about Sean Patrick Maloney” https://t.co/fTA7YfCt1H

— Ally Mutnick (@allymutnick) May 16, 2022

Jones hasn’t made his decision public yet, but he has three options. Jones can choose to withdraw from the race, accept the challenge, and challenge a member the Democrat hierarchy or challenge his freshman colleague Jamal Bowman. Maloney happens to be white. Bowman and Jones are Black, progressive and gay.

It wouldn’t be a day ending in “y” unless somebody got called racist.

This is a deeply disappointing example of thinly disguised racism.

Ideologically, a black man cannot represent the Westchester County District he currently represents and which he won in 2020.

Outrageous. https://t.co/u56HjKbbO7

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) May 18, 2022

On the merits, though, Maloney acts like a little b**ch and not a leader. Maloney could easily win an open D+2 spot nearby. The rational explanation is that he’s tired of the grind of campaigning ins a competitive district every year. His survival instinct is also tingling. In an average year, running for a seat in a contest would be nothing. However, 2022 is not a typical election year. He’s particularly leery of running in a D+2 district in what is shaping up to be a wave year. He’s a member of the establishment, and he thinks he deserves a safe seat.

I don’t really care who wins this battle so long as it causes injuries, hard feelings, and long-standing grudges and refusals to work together.