By Dan Murphy
On Monday May 16, Special master Jonathan Cervas released his new Congressional district lines for New York State’s 26 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Last month, an upstate Judge tossed out the boundaries crafted by Democrats after a compromise couldn’t be reached with republicans. And the NYS Court of Appeals upheld the decision to throw out the democratic lines and ordered a neutral party to come up with fairer Congressional lines.
The result, from Cervas, means that in Westchester, three members of Congress have two seats to fight over. The three members of Congress currently representing Westchester are: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, Rep. Mondaire Jones and Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
Bowman represents the 16th district, which includes parts of the Bronx and most of lower Westchester. Cervas’ plan for Bowman means that his district will no longer run through the Bronx, Yonkers, Westchester and north into Putnam. Instead, the 16th will still have parts of the Bronx and all of Yonkers and most of lower Westchester.
The 17th District, currently represented by Mondaire Jones, now runs from Westchester and Rockland Counties north into Putnam and Dutchess counties.
Jones moved from Rockland County to White Plains last year, so technically he lives outside the 17th District and for the moment, lives in the 16th District. That is why many are speculating that Jones and Bowman would have to face off in a democratic primary to see who represents the 16th district.
But that’s not what we hear. Jones, who grew up in Rockland County is expected to move back and run for his seat again in the 17th.
Which brings us to Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. Maloney currently represents the 18th District, which includes parts of northern Westchester, Putnam and north into the Hudson Valley. The newly drawn 18th moved Maloney’s district up further north into more republican parts of the state.
Maloney, like Jones, in no longer living in his redrawn district. Maloney lives in the 17th district, and immediately after the boundaries were announced, he posted. “While the process to draw these maps without the legislature is against the will of voters, if the newly announced maps are finalized, I will run in New York’s 17th Congressional District. NY-17 includes my home and many of the Hudson Valley communities I currently represent.”
That announcement drew angry responses from many NY democrats, who believe that Maloney should run in the newly drawn 18th district. Rep. Maloney also serves as the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, DCCC. His job is to elect democrats to the House this fall, and the backlash against Maloney comes in two forms. One for neglecting his job to try and take away a seat from another democrat (Jones), and two that Maloney had input into the democratic party’s redrawn lines for Congress in NY that were tossed out by the courts as too partisan.
Rep. Jones responded after Maloney tweeting, “Sean Patrick Maloney did not even give me a heads up before he went on Twitter to make that announcement. And I think that tells you everything you need know about Sean Patrick Maloney”
Comments against Maloney included, “How can Sean Patrick Maloney ensure Dems keep the house when he doesn’t even care about the members he claims to be defending?”
And “Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a centrist white Dem, says he would abandon his 18th District & run in the new 17th held by Rep. Mondaire Jones, a progressive Black Dem. But 71% of the new 18th comes from Maloney’s current 18th District & 73% of the new 17th is Jones’ current 17th.”
Progressive democrats were almost unanimous in their support for Jones over Maloney. “I support Mondaire Jones against Sean Patrick Maloney in #NY17. One is a non-corporate progressive & the other is the DCCC Chair. This race is at the heart of what we’re fighting for: The Working Class vs. The Donor Class.”
Sean Patrick Maloney’s job is to protect and expand the Democratic majority. But when his personal interests are concerned, he’s abandoning a winnable light blue seat (he represents a LOT of) in favor of the bluer seat next door, currently held by Mondaire Jones. Stunning
The DCCC chair, instead of focusing on maintaining the House majority— the literal job of the DCCC chair! — is big footing a rising star in the party, @MondaireJones. This is not a political party, it’s a collection of class presidents just jockeying for titles on the titanic!
Sean Patrick Maloney’s literal job is to reelect a lot of members running in districts that are tougher turf than NY-18. How can he lead the DCCC when he turns and runs at the first sign of a fight?
A note on geography. Maloney says he’s the only member who lives in the proposed #NY17. But Mondaire Jones was born in Nyack, grew up in Spring Valley, and lived in South Nyack until a couple of years ago—all towns in Rockland County, all in the 17th District
The minority opinion is that Jones will stay in his White Plains residence and challenge Bowman in the 16th. The 16th district now does not include parts of Northern Westchester including Yorktown, the home of County Legislator Vedat Gashi. While Gashi has not made any public comment, all indications are that he is ending his campaign, which raised almost $500,000.
Other news from Cervas’ new lines:
The 3rd District, which was to include parts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, and many Sound Shore communities in Westchester, now does not include any part of Long Island. State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, from Pelham, was running for Congress in the 3rd but will likely not be a candidate.
Another question from the redistricting mess. What happens to candidates like Biaggi, who ran for Congress, gave up their state senate seat, and are now redistricted out of their race? Is her political career over?
Congressman Bowman tweeted about the new lines, and the fact that his 16th District lost a democratic stronghold of Co-op City. “Unfortunately, the map created by the special master splits NY-16’s historically low-income Bronx communities into three congressional districts and decreases…the Black voter population by 17%. The Black voting power in NY-16 cannot be diluted in favor of more compact but less fair maps.”
The Working Families Party also blasted Maloney and supported Jones in District 17. “The voters of the 17th Congressional District chose Rep. Mondaire Jones for a reason. He has been an exceptional leader in Congress, serving his constituents with his fierce commitment to voting rights, fixing the Supreme Court to work in the people’s interests, and protecting the climate. He’s earned the right to seek re-election in his home district.
“That’s what makes Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s announcement that he intends to run in that district so troubling—a district which includes Rep. Mondaire Jones’s hometown in Rockland County and is mostly composed of the electorate that Mondaire currently serves.
“Rep. Maloney seemingly wants to avoid having to run in the 18th Congressional District—a slightly more competitive, but still very winnable seat, composed mostly of voters he already represents. His decision to jump into a neighboring district and challenge a fellow incumbent is self-serving and unbecoming of the leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“Rep. Maloney should seek re-election in the 18th district. Instead, he seems to want to defeat a fellow Democratic member of Congress, or else force Mondaire out of the district he represents and bully him into a race that would pit two Black progressive Democrats in the New York delegation against each other.
“We strongly urge Rep. Maloney to take a different path and look forward to supporting Rep. Jones’s re-election bid in CD-17,” wrote the WFP.
