ALBANY – New York Metropolis will acquire two new state Senate seats in 2023 below the redrawn district traces by Democratic lawmakers, the transfer coming on the expense of at the very least three Republican-held upstate seats.
The redistricting laws, simply handed Thursday, would create one new district in Brooklyn and one other in Queens.
The legislature’s higher chamber would preserve its present 63-member depend, however shift illustration downstate the place there’s extra registered Democratic voters.
However the transfer would mix upstate districts held by GOP state Senators Jim Tedisco (R-Glenville) and Peter Oberacker (R-Schenevus) into one, costing the GOP one seat.
It might additionally make it more durable for state Sen. Daphne Jordan (R-Halfmoon) to win re-election, giving her extra liberal sections of Rensselaer county, like town of Troy, added to her right-leaning district that features Saratoga Springs.
“The 2 seats within the metropolis can have pluralities of quickly rising communities which are underrepresented,” mentioned state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens).
Each new seats would development blue and the brand new Brooklyn district anticipated having a majority Asian inhabitants and the Queens district with a Latino inhabitants, in accordance with Gianaris.
“They’re utilizing partisan gerrymandering to attempt to rig the system. This can be a energy seize as a result of they wish to pursue insurance policies like bail reform and better taxes,” mentioned John Faso, a former Republican congressman from the Hudson Valley.
He mentioned the brand new traces will probably get rid of a number of the 20-member GOP convention, “nearer to fifteen to the 18 [seat] vary.” Democrats presently maintain a 43-seat majority.
The state Senate transfer comes a day after it handed laws to redraw New York’s congressional traces.
The state Meeting handed the measure by a 118-29 vote depend, with 14 Republicans becoming a member of Democrats to vote ‘sure.’
Republicans are anticipated to file a lawsuit claiming the traces unfairly gerrymandered to favor Democrats, instantly after the laws is signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
