FILE – The New York state Senate meets in the Senate Chamber on the opening day of the legislative session at the state Capitol in Albany, N.Y., on Jan. 8, 2020. Democrats in the New York Legislature on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, rejected a congressional map drawn by the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission, setting the stage for the party to craft lines that help Democrats in battleground House races that could determine control of Congress.
(AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)
The Democratic-controlled state legislature on Wednesday approved their newly drawn plan for New York’s 26 Congressional districts, potentially bringing a process that has stretched on for nearly two years to a close — absent any further legal challenges from Republicans.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the maps into law late Wednesday afternoon, according to a post from her government account on X.
The state legislature approved the plan, released on Tuesday, by a 45 to 17 vote in the state Senate and by a 115 to 33 vote in the Assembly. A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in voting the maps through in both chambers.
The new maps are more favorable to Democrats who are trying to flip several key House seats and take back Washington’s lower chamber in the November general election.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), who would become speaker if Democrats retake the House, praised the legislature for advancing the plan on Wednesday.
“Today, the state legislature has adopted a bipartisan congressional map that more meaningfully delivers the type of fair representation that the people of New York State deserve,” Jeffries said.
Lawmakers voted on their own maps just two days after rejecting a plan submitted by the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC), on the grounds that it violated map-making guidelines in the state Constitution in several key areas. Those included splitting up counties, dividing communities of interest and favoring…
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