POLITICAL ARENA

New district maps are in the making

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Several community organizations traveled to the Steuben County Courthouse in Bath last Friday to give their opinions on how the new Congressional and state senate districts maps should be redrawn.

In an April bombshell decision, the state’s highest court rejected the new Congressional and state senate lines for being unconstitutionally gerrymandered, and ordered the districts to be reapportioned once more.

Both Justice Patrick McAllister, the judge who oversaw the initial lawsuit, and Jonathan Cervas of Carnegie Mellon University who was appointed by the court to draw the new maps —  listened to arguments made by the representatives of the community groups, many of which are based in New York City.

Many of the arguments centered around ensuring that voting blocks were kept in-tact and that minority groups had fair representation in the federal and state legislature.

McAllister has given Cervas until May 20 to present the new maps.

In a separate, yet related set of court challenges, GOP-aligned groups have filed lawsuits to throw out the new State Assembly maps, just as the other maps were.

There has been no movement in those cases as of Tuesday morning.

 

Hochul finds a new number two

Gov. Kathy Hochul now has a new lieutenant governor and running mate as she tapped  U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado to replace former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, who was indicted on political corruption charges in April.

Delgado is giving up his Hudson Valley Congressional seat to join Hochul, making a truly upstate ticket — a rarity in New York gubernatorial elections.

“The congressman is a battle-tested campaigner who successfully won a competitive primary in 2018 and two general elections in New York’s 19th Congressional District — flipping the swing district from red to blue,” Hochul’s campaign said in a release.

Hochul was only able to select a new running mate after she convinced state lawmakers to pass a bill that allowed Benjamin to remove himself from the ballot.

Delgado is expected to be sworn into office at the end of May.

As of now, the Democratic primary for governor is slated for June 28, but that could change based on other races.

However that could change in the next few weeks given the chaos surrounding the new redistricting maps.

politics, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Steuben County Courthouse, Patrick McAllister, Jonathan Cervas, Antonio Delgado, Brian Benjamin

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