New York’s newly proposed congressional map would solve at least one potential headache for House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries: It would put his Prospect Heights home back within his district.
The state Independent Redistricting Commission formally proposed a new layout for New York’s 26 congressional districts on Thursday, approving the new map with a 9-1 vote.
The state constitution prohibits the commission from drawing district lines that benefit or disadvantage incumbent lawmakers. But in at least three instances, the bipartisan commission conveniently shifted the congressional boundaries to move sitting House members’ homes into the districts they currently represent — including Jeffries, whose condo sits just outside his existing district.
Ken Jenkins, the commission’s Democratic chair, denied any suggestion that the mapmaking panel took incumbency into account.
“Our law requires us not to take into consideration incumbency to favor or disfavor any particular candidate,” he told reporters after Thursday’s commission meeting. “That doesn’t take into consideration any of that.”
The U.S. Constitution requires congressional representatives to live in the state they represent at the time of their election — but not necessarily their district. But living outside of the district can be political fodder for opponents looking to discredit a candidate.
In 2022, at least six of New York’s 26 House members won despite being registered to vote outside of their districts, which were redrawn by a court-appointed mapmaker the months before Election Day. Since then, two of those members — Hudson Valley Rep. Marc Molinaro and upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney, both Republicans — moved into the areas they represent.
The redistricting commission’s new map took care of three of the remaining four.
That includes Jeffries, who would be in line to become House speaker if Democrats are able to pick up a handful of seats in this year’s elections. Under the…
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