A Manhattan judge’s controversial decision to throw out the lines for NYC’s only Republican Congressional district could bring Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) one step closer to seizing the speaker’s gavel.
Jeffries is set to become the first black Speaker of the House if Democrats win control of the chamber in the midterm elections, after the Wednesday court ruling put Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) in peril by enlarging the traditionally Republican district to include more liberal enclaves.
Republicans hold a narrow 2018-213 majority in the House. New York’s 11th district and just four others would hand Democrats control.
Elected to Congress in 2012, Jeffries became his party’s leader in the chamber a decade later. Despite a liberal voting record, he’s tussled with lefty “Squad” members, and has sought to unify progressives and more establishment Dems to bring his party to power.
“I feel very confident that we’re going to take the House,” said Rep. John Larson (D-CT), the former party caucus chair, who credits Jeffries with holding together a “diverse caucus.”
A Democratic win in November’s elections is no slam dunk, he cautioned.
“Democrats still have to say what we’re for and what we’ll do in the first 100 days,” Larson said.
In New York, Gov. Hochul signed a new map into law in 2024, after a redistricting process designed in part to avoid court battles. The state Supreme Court judge who tossed out the lines, Judge Jeffrey Pearlman, is a former Hochul staffer.
“Republicans set in motion a redistricting war that has largely backfired,” crowed Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx). “House Democrats are overwhelmingly positioned to win back the House. There’s no doubt in my mind that Hakeem Jeffries is the next Speaker of the House.”
Republicans are vowing to fight the ruling all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary, and Malliotakis said the party would “use every legal option at our disposal.”
“The judge ruled black and Hispanic voters [are discriminated against]. Malliotakis is half Cuban. How the hell do you say that? I mean it’s insane to me,” Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) told The Post.
Republicans seek to overturn the mid-cycle redistricting which operates under a 2014 state constitutional amendment meant to end partisan gerrymandering.
A California redistricting initiative that voters in the Golden State approved in November could flip up to five US House seats the Democrats’ way.
“Having started this was a bad thing,” said former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), whose own state could furnish Democrats with an additional House seat.
He pointed to Florida, which could take out three to five Democratic seats through redistricting.
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