Queens Senate maps take shape
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The special master appointed to redraw New York’s Senate lines released his draft maps on Monday, May 16, 2022. A final version will be approved on Friday, May 20, 2022. Map via Redistricting and You/CUNY Graduate Center
By Jacob Kaye
Though they’re not quite final, Queens’ State Senate lines are beginning to take shape after the court-appointed special master shared his first draft of New York State’s electoral map Monday evening.
Jonathan Cervas, postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, released both the State Senate and congressional maps Monday after the Court of Appeals struck down the maps passed into law by state lawmakers earlier this year.
Steuben County Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister, who initially struck down the state’s Senate, congressional and Assembly maps, has until Friday to approve the final maps. The court is accepting testimony on the proposed maps, which will likely see amendments prior to their final approval.
But after weeks of not knowing what the state’s Senate lines would look like, Cervas’ drafts give voters and candidates a peek at what shape those lines could take. In Queens, Senate lines could potentially take a drastically different shape than the now-unconstitutional lines put forth by state Democrats, according to Cervas’ draft.
Gianairs’ domino effect
Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris’ Northwest Queens district is split into two under the proposed maps. One of the two districts, now named District 59, was created by the special master to account for the large growth in population in Long Island City over the past decade.
Currently, his district, SD-12, includes most of Astoria from the East River to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, most of Sunnyside and Woodside, the entirety of Long Island City and chunks of Maspeth, Ridgewood, Glendale, Woodhaven and Ozone Park. It’s not entirely compact, and includes carve-outs that feature small, three-block stretches.
Under Cervas’ proposal, SD-12 covers the eastern-most portions of Astoria and includes larger portions of Woodside, Sunnyside and Maspeth. It also includes a large portion of Elmhurst, previously represented by Senator Toby Ann Stavisky.
With a portion of his voters in SD-12 and another portion in the new SD-59, Gianaris had a political choice to make – which district should he run in? Candidates for state office don’t need to live in the district they run for during redistricting years, though they eventually have to move into it if they win.
“Gianaris’ decision making…those are just dominos to watch,” said Trip Yang, a political consultant. “Gianris – and I mean this as a compliment – is very good at politics, to no one's surprise. He probably could run in either seat.”
Though a new district proposed by state lawmakers was struck down by the special master, he did include a new Senate district in Queens, Senate District 59. Map via Redistricting and You/CUNY Graduate Center
Tuesday morning, Gianaris announced he’d run in SD-12.
“Should the newly proposed State Senate lines become permanent, I look forward to seeking re-election in Senate District 12 and continuing to represent the neighborhoods in which I was born, raised, and have lived my entire life,” the top Democrat said in a statement.
Gianaris’ decision leaves SD-59 as the only open Senate seat in the borough. A portion of the district, which includes the westside of Astoria, Long Island City, portions of Greenpoint and Williamsburg and a chunk of Manhattan’s east side from 49th to 14th Streets, was included in the now-defunct Senate District 17 – a new district that was created by state lawmakers earlier this year.
Kristen Gonzalez, a Democratic Socialists of America-backed tech worker from Long Island City, former City Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley, former City Council candidate Japneet Singh and Greenpoint resident Françoise Olivas all had declared their candidacy for the seat before the lawmakers’ maps were deemed unconstitutional.
Less than five minutes after Gianaris announced his intention to run in SD-12, Gonzalez said she’d be running in SD-59, which she currently lives in.
“We had already been looking at 59 and I think [Gianaris] announcing for 12 definitely helped in terms of knowing what the field is going to look like,” Gonzalez told the Eagle.
“When the maps came out yesterday, we were excited to see that 59 not only includes where I live, but it also includes neighborhoods that, with our priorities being climate, housing and health care, make a lot of sense for this campaign,” she added.
The district includes large portions of Astoria that have already elected three DSA-backed candidates to office, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán.
Crowley, who does not currently live in the district, also declared her intention to run in the race Tuesday afternoon.
“Provided that these draft districts are finalized, I intend to run for the new 59th State Senate District and represent communities in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan,” the former borough president candidate said.
Neither Singh nor Olivas responded to requests for comment.
No more puzzle pieces
Cervas, who was tasked with drawing the maps after judges on New York’s top court ruled that state Democrats had illegally gerrymandered the congressional and Senate maps, claimed that both sets of his draft maps are more fair.
At first glance, that appears to be true.
The puzzle piece-like Senate districts of the past decade in Queens appear to be eliminated entirely by Cervas’ draft.
State Senator Joseph Addabbo’s District 15 went from looking disjointed to a solid round shape that appears to logically include and not include particular neighborhoods and parts of neighborhoods.
State Senate District 15, represented by Joseph Addabbo, currently is made up of jagged lines that extend across the borough. Map via Redistricting and You/CUNY Graduate Center
The district, for the past decade, included parts of Glendale, Ridgewood, Maspeth, Kew Gardens Hills and Richmond Hill, before snaking down through Woodhaven, Ozone Park and Howard Beach to reach the western, whiter half of the Rockaway peninsula.
The new District 15 is located completely on Queens’ mainland and includes Middle Village, Forest Hills, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park, eliminating Howard Beach and the Rockaway peninsula.
The peninsula was picked up by Senator James Sanders’ District 10, which changed very little with the exception of the addition of the western half of the Rockaways.
The new, proposed and more compact Senate District 15. Map via Redistricting and You/CUNY Graduate Center
Seeing a similar reduction in jagged lines is Senate District 14, represented by Senator Lerory Comrie.
While the district – which currently includes portions of Briarwood, Cambria Heights, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Hillcrest, Jamaica, Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hills, Kew Gardens, Laurelton, Queens Village, Rosedale, South Jamaica, Springfield Gardens and St. Albans – may have a cleaner look to it, it now stretches further across the borough.
The proposed district extends from the border of Queens and Long Island in Springfield Gardens to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, picking up portions of Hillside, Jamaica, Jamaica Estates, Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens Hills along the way.
Senate District 11, represented by John Liu, was also expanded further east to west under the special master’s plan. The district stretches from the northernmost portion of Astoria to Glen Oaks, picking up all of Queens’ northernmost neighborhoods along the way, including Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston and Little Neck.
Liu, who said he felt his district was “radically altered,” told the Eagle that though he may not be happy with the process by which they were drawn, he’s ready to move on.
“It is what it is,” Liu said. “At the end of the day, the most important people are the voters, they will decide.”
“I don't fixate over the lines – we're in the last three weeks of this legislative session,” he added. “These lines are the last thing on my mind.”
District 16, represented by Stavisky, currently stretches from Woodside to Oakland Gardens, breaking up neighborhoods throughout Eastern, Central and Western Queens along the way. Under the proposal, the district is concentrated in Central and Eastern Queens and includes neighborhoods like Murray Hill, Fresh Meadows, Utopia, Hillside and Oakland Gardens.
Senator Jessica Ramos’ district also became far more compact, likely reflecting population changes in Northwest Queens.
District 13 previously included East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona, and parts of Astoria and Woodside.
It now is concentrated in Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst and Corona.
McAllister is accepting court-submitted testimony on the map through Wednesday and will approve a final version of the map on Friday, May 20.
Cervas was given the responsibility of drawing the new congressional and State Senate maps after a group of Republican voters and elected officials successfully sued state Democrats alleging that they had illegally drawn and gerrymandered the state’s electoral lines.
McAllister was the first judge to rule on the case, issuing a decision in the Republicans’ favor.
The case made its way to the Court of Appeals, which ruled that state lawmakers had violated the state’s constitution both in the processes in which they drew the maps and by approving the resulting maps, which they said showed signs of partisan gerrymandering.
Lawmakers took over the map drawing duties earlier this year after the New York Independent Redistricting Commission failed to submit a final set of maps by its February deadline.
Though the Assembly maps – drawn using the same process lawmakers used for the congressional and Senate lines – were challenged, they have been upheld by the court.
New York will now have two primaries – one on June 28 for Assembly, statewide offices and party positions, and the other on Aug. 23 for Senate and congressional seats.
