Things keep getting worse for the Democrats.
They’re even taking hits from unexpected places.
And Nancy Pelosi was furious after a Democrat court delivered this devastating defeat.
In order to try to provide a buffer against any Republican tide this fall, Democrats were hoping to manipulate the redistricting process, which occurs once every decade, to create new Democrat-leaning seats.
New York state is at the centerpiece of this tactic.
Since Democrats control the redistricting process in New York, they drew a map eliminating four Republican-leaning seats, which would give the Party control of 22 out of New York’s 26 Congressional districts.
However, the New York Court of Appeals struck down the proposed map as an unconstitutional gerrymander.
In a four-to-three ruling, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote that “based on the foregoing, the enactment of the Congressional and Senate maps by the legislature was procedurally unconstitutional, and the congressional map is also substantively unconstitutional as drawn with impermissible partisan purpose, leaving the state without constitutional district lines for use in the 2022 primary and general elections.”
The Court of Appeals also said that New York may have to push its Primary date back to August to allow the legislature the time needed to draw new Congressional lines.
“We are confident that, in consultation with the Board of Elections, Supreme Court can swiftly develop a schedule to facilitate an August primary election, allowing time for the adoption of new constitutional maps, the dissemination of correct information to voters, the completion of the petitioning process, and compliance with federal voting laws, including the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (see 52 USC § 20302),” the Court of Appeals wrote.
Combined with aggressive gerrymanders in Blue states like Illinois and New York, Democrats hoped to use friendly judges in states like North Carolina and Ohio to create as many new Democrat-friendly districts as possible.
But after the Court threw out New York’s unconstitutional gerrymander, combined with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis standing firm for a fair map in the Sunshine State, that strategy is now out the window for Democrats.
And the new result will be Republicans gaining a few additional seats in the House of Representatives, which is bad news for Democrats in November.
Political Animal News will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
