New Congressional Map Plan Draws Southern Tier From Tioga to Mass. Border

A court-appointed expert has released a draft of new congressional maps for New York that are more favorable to Republicans than the original gerrymandered political maps drawn by Democrats.

The Associated Press reports the draft maps released Monday, May 16 would help the GOP by creating five districts that lean Republican and at least four other districts where Republicans would be competitive.

Maps drawn up by the democratically-controlled state Legislature as part of the redistricting process occurring every 10 years would have given Democrats a strong majority in 22 of 26 congressional districts, starting with this year’s election.

The new Southern Tier District would be Number 19 and stretch roughly from the Tioga/ Chemung County line east through Delaware, Greene and Columbia counties and north to include Chenango, Cortland and Tompkins counties.

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Special Master Jonathan Cervas redrew the maps following a suit that successfully argued the new districts approved by the Democrat majority gave unfair advantage to their candidates over Republicans in upcoming contests for control in Congress.

This latest version throws a number of races off-track with candidates who had been campaigning in some regions finding themselves no longer running to represent the constituents they were wooing (and spending campaign dollars on).

Cervas' proposed new map is not final just yet. A New York court will take comment on the maps for two days before a final version is approved by a judge on May 20.

The New York Legislature approved a map after the bipartisan committee on redistricting failed to come up with one plan, presenting both Republican and Democrat versions: