The NY State Court of Appeals isn’t a court that often holds up lower-level court rulings when you look at the headlines. Quite often, someone presents new or slightly different information to get their way, and they seem to swing in that new direction. Unfortunately for Dems, this was not one of those times. As they not only held up the lower court’s ruling, they also suggested upcoming state Senate primary elections will need to be moved back.
Returning a 4-3 vote, the court agreed with the Republicans filing the suit. They claimed that the new district boundaries had been unlawfully gerrymandered by the Legislature, and when passing the maps, they failed to follow proper procedure. The need to fix the problem was a huge one in NY and something that was long overdue anyway. In the ruling, the state explained what the main questions were for their decision, and why they ruled as they did.
“On these appeals, the primary questions before us are whether this failure to follow the prescribed constitutional procedure warrants invalidation of the legislature’s congressional and state senate maps and whether there is record support for the determination of both courts below that the district lines for congressional races were drawn with an unconstitutional partisan intent. We answer both questions in the affirmative and therefore declare the congressional and senate maps void. As a result, judicial oversight is required to facilitate the expeditious creation of constitutionally conforming maps for use in the 2022 election and to safeguard the constitutionally protected right of New Yorkers to a fair election.”
NY Governor Cathy Hochul had signed the redistricting plan that attempted to realign 22 districts into very dense Democratic areas and 4 Republican ones. If they remained as history had shown them, the Republicans would have lost 4 seats in the process. Given the win-at-all-costs mindset most NY Democrats have, this redistricting was just another example of how far they would go to have a chance to sweep the elections.
Looking at the voting history of the state, they largely vote Democratic in bigger statewide elections and Republican in many local elections. This put the Dems in a touchy spot for trying to keep the cycle of people coming into the party going. As more people have been waking up over the years, the more they are seeing the Democrats and their progressive politics for what they are, not what NY needs.
In the last 40 years, the state went from being a big part of the rust belt with factories, shipping, and big business in many of their cities, and the Great Lakes providing a great way to link cities like Buffalo and Detroit’s automotive factories. Now, many of these plants are closed, with their broke windows serving as a reminder of how quickly these industries shattered. Their death was a direct result of the influx of Democrats into state and local offices, and their tax increases to pay for programs these cities never saw benefits from.
With congressional and state Senate primary elections likely held off from June to August, the candidates have a better opportunity to reach the voters. This could give Republicans an edge if they can connect with their new constituents. The unfortunate thing about this is the lack of campaigning they do in smaller towns. These small districts are buddy-buddy with people in different towns but in the same voting district. They would be more than happy to tell their friends just how good this candidate was.
Now, to get these Republicans out there and campaigning. It could just be the ticket to pushing some of the Dems out of NY.
