Proposed new boundaries for Long Island's Congressional districts (Updated with residency correction)

 OLD MAP  AND  NEW MAP                                                                                           

Current U.S. Congressional District Lines

Proposed U.S. Congressional District Lines

     

Though New York's special master is expected to issue his final recommendations for the state's redistricting on Friday, his proposed new lines for U.S. Congressional districts came out today.

First, something called Davesredistricting.org posted the new lines, then Nick Reisman at State of politics posted the same thing so they are probably accurate.

Here is the link for Dave's redistricting org. If you can figure it out, it allegedly gives you the details.

https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::22a818db-e3bd-4246-95eb-381c48802da1

But from just looking at the maps, it appears that District 4, being vacated by U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from Garden City, looks to be about the same as the current map. Except that it allegedly excludes Levittown but adds Republican-leaning Seaford.

That has to be a relief for most of multiple Democrats running for the Congressional seat and for the only Republican in the race, Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D'Esposito. 

However, there is some discussion that Nassau Legis. Siela Bynoe, of Westbury, would now be in District 3.

Bynoe is one of the top contenders for the 4th District seat. Democrat candidates include former Hempstead Democratic Supervisor Laura Gillen, Malverne Mayor Keith Corbett and Nassau Legis. Carrie Solages of Lawrence.

Remember, Congressional candidates do not have to live in the district when running or even move into it to serve.*

But District 3 is now a jumble.

It looks like Alessandria Biaggi, a state senator from Queens who announced her candidacy is out of District 3, the Congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from Queens. That has to be good news for the multiple other Democrats running in this race.

Though unclear, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, a Queens Democrat who now holds the District 6 seat, appears to now be in the 3rd District.

Right now, everyone is scrambling to examine the new lines and how they compare to current election districts.

The old District 3 included a small slice of northeastern Queens and all of Nassau 's North Shore into Suffolk. 

The first redistricting took District 3 around the Sound, allowing Biaggi to run. The new lines stop the runaround and makes the district more north and south.

The redrawn district now appears to include most of the Town of Oyster Bay, which gives it a much more Republican orientation. That is probably a relief to Republican candidate George Santos.

But it appears that Democratic Nassau Legis. Josh Lafazan, who lives with his parents in Woodbury, who announced his race for the Third District Seat, would now be District 2, which also has been re-arranged.

District 2  would now run north and south instead of along the south shore of Nassau and Suffolk. Unclear if that helps or hurts incumbent Republican Congressman Andrew Garbino.

District One seems pretty much the same: Red except for the Hamptons. U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin is vacating the Congressional seat to run for New York State governor rather than for re-election.

*Correction. This blog originally said Congressional members do not have to live in the district they are running for but must move into that district if they win. Republican elections lawyer John Ciampoli called to say that interpretation is wrong; He said that a member of Congress not only doesn't have to live in the district they are running in but doesn't have to live there after they are elected.

He said the U.S. Constitution requires that a member of Congress need only be "an inhabitant" of the state at the time of the election.

The media agrees. The Washington Post in 2019 reported: "If you want to run for the House of Representatives, you must be at least 25 years of age, a citizen of the United States for at least seven years and "be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen,” according to the Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. 

And that's it. There's nothing that requires a member of the House to live within their district's boundaries"

The Post reported that nearly two dozen Congress members at that time lived outside their districts.

So, it is unclear why anybody cares about the new Congressional lines if someone on Long Island, for example, can run for Congress in Buffalo and continue to live on Long Island.

What redistricting does is possibly change the voting demographic of a Congressional District, making it more Republican or Democratic than the old district.