Redistricting proposal could put Maloney in tight spot
/
Rep. Carolyn Maloney could face a tight race should her district be redrawn to include fewer Manhattan voters and more voters in Queens and Brooklyn. Map via Redistricting and You/CUNY Graduate
By Jacob Kaye
For nearly three decades, Rep. Carolyn Maloney has represented a portion of Western Queens, Northern Brooklyn and the east side of Manhattan in Congress. However, that could change should one of the proposed redistricting maps put forth by the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission get the stamp of approval from the State Legislature in January.
New York Congressional District 12, which Maloney has represented in its current form since 2013 and in previous forms since 1993, could undergo massive changes should one of the two redistricting commission’s maps be approved.
While the maps are far from final – the commission will gather feedback from the public in the coming months, create a new map and submit it to the legislature for approval by January – one of the current proposals would see all of District 12’s Manhattan voters cut out of the district.
Instead, the district would move deeper into Queens, covering most of Astoria and Long Island City, and snake deeper into Brooklyn, encompassing neighborhoods along the waterfront from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. Currently, the district houses the east side of Manhattan from the Upper East Side down to the Lower East Side, parts of Astoria, Long Island City, Greenpoint and Williamsburg.
Emily Crerand, who serves as Maloney’s chief of staff, said the congress member was disappointed with the proposals, not because of the way they were drawn, but because there were two of them.
“The Independent Redistricting Commission was supposed to submit one universal map that folks could start with, and they submitted two very partisan maps,” Crerand said. “We were a bit surprised about how the lines were drawn, but it was up to the Independent Commission, through public hearings to hear from constituents how they wanted their district to look.”
If approved, the map proposed by the Republican members of the commission could pose a problem to Maloney, who has beaten out progressive challengers in her past two primary elections largely on the backs of her Manhattan base.
In 2020, Maloney won seven of the eight Manhattan assembly districts within her congressional district over primary challenger Suraj Patel, who also challenged Maloney in 2018. However, she didn’t win a single assembly district in either Queens or Brooklyn – Patel won all three in Queens and all three in Brooklyn.
Two years prior, Maloney trounced Patel in Manhattan but barely edged him out to win in Queens and lost by over 1,000 votes in Brooklyn.
Crerand said that if the district shifts into Queens and Brooklyn, Maloney would use the chance to connect with new potential constituents.
“It'd be an opportunity for us to engage with new voters and introduce these new voters to who their future potential congresswoman would be,” Crerand said.
And the voters would look different. Under the Republicans’ proposal, the district would shift from being 61 percent white to being a little less than 38 percent white, according to data from the CUNY Graduate Center. The number of Hispanic voters in the district would nearly double. The district would also pick up a part of Astoria that is currently represented by Democratic Socialists of America-backed electeds at the state, federal and, likely soon, local level.
This year, Maloney is facing a challenge from Rana Abdelhamid, a first time candidate from Queens and member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Sarafina Chitika, a representative from Abdelhamid’s campaign, said that Abdelhamid hasn’t worried too much about the proposals because they are essentially completely out of her control.
“We don't have a crystal ball, we don't know how the district lines are going to play out,” Chitika said. “We're really just focused on engaging with voters across the district.”
It would be a cruel irony if the district was changed in a way that resulted in a loss for the incumbent. The congress member was first elected to the legislative body after beating out Republican incumbent Bill Green the year the district had been redrawn to include more voters in Queens and Brooklyn.
However, election attorney Jerry Goldfeder says it’s unlikely that the district ends up being drawn in a way that doesn’t favor Maloney.
“That's never going to happen,” Goldfeder said. “Elected officials, especially long time and powerful members of Congress, have a lot to say during a redistricting process. And whether it's the redistricting commission or legislature, they are usually quite responsive to such elected officials.”
Crerand said that someone from Maloney’s team is expected to testify at the Redistricting Commission’s next public hearing. Chitika could not confirm if someone from Abdelhamid’s campaign would testify.
According to Goldfeder, it may be better for the voters if the district stays somewhat the same, as it’s currently represented in the commission’s Democratic members’ proposal.
“It's entirely appropriate to consider that as one of the factors,” Goldfeder said. “Because it's not just about the incumbents. It's about the people they serve.”
