STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Democrats looking for a leg up in the 2026 congressional elections have again set their sights on Staten Island.
A case making its way through the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan could see the shared portion of Staten Island’s congressional district, represented by Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, shifted from part of South Brooklyn to lower Manhattan.
“This is the most egregious, frivolous attempt we’ve seen yet from Washington Democrats to erase the voice of the people of our district,” Malliotakis said Thursday. “What the Democrats are trying to do here is tilt the scale so this district never elects a Republican again and our city never has a Republican representative again.”
The Washington, D.C.-based Elias Law Group filed the lawsuit related to Staten Island’s district on behalf of two Staten Islanders and two Manhattanites, and has handled much of Democrats’ redistricting litigation.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis pictured Oct. 10, 2024, shows Malliotakis in the Advance’s Bloomfield office.(Advance/SILive.com | Jason Paderon)
In the firm’s case related to New York’s 11th Congressional District, it argues that Black and Latino voters on Staten Island have faced decades of stymied political power, and that the current map, approved in 2024 by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York Legislature, violates the rights of Black and Latino voters under state law.
As a solution, the lawsuit proposes shifting the shared portion of the district into lower Manhattan, a move the plaintiffs say would give a fairer voice to the Island’s Black and Latino voters by having them share a district with voters in Manhattan areas like Battery Park City, the Financial District and the West Village.
They argue congressional district maps drawn in 2024 should’ve brought the 11th Congressional District into Manhattan to create a “minority influence district” where Black and Latino voters on Staten Island could combine with communities in Lower Manhattan to elect their candidates of choice.
A portion of the state constitution is written to ensure racial and language minority groups “do not have less opportunity” to elect their preferred candidates.
The petition filed in October acknowledges Malliotakis as the Island’s first Latino member of Congress, but discounts her Cuban heritage as she was “not the candidate of choice for either Black or Hispanic voters.”
What a different district would look like
William Cooper, a redistricting expert, submitted an illustrative map for the plaintiffs in the case showing what a possible new district with Manhattan would look like.
Cooper’s plan effectively trades 11th Congressional District’s South Brooklyn geography with most of the 10th Congressional District’s share of Manhattan outside Chinatown.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat currently representing District 10, is facing a tough primary challenge from former Comptroller Brad Lander, but would be redistricted into the Staten Island seat should Cooper’s map come to fruition. Goldman resides in Battery Park City.
Staten Island doesn’t have a large enough population for a congressional district entirely of its own, and the shift into Lower Manhattan would give Democrats an advantage over Malliotakis heading into the November elections.
The move isn’t entirely unprecedented. Assembly District 64, represented by Democratic Assemblymember Charles Fall, touches part of the west Brooklyn waterfront and makes its way into lower Manhattan. Staten Island’s congressional district following the 1970 Census also encompassed parts of lower Manhattan.
A new Democratic advantage?
Staten Island has been one of New York’s most conservative locales for a decade with almost 64% of the borough voting for President Donald Trump in 2024.
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis speaks at the Staten Island Republican Party’s “Trump Triumph Rally” in Midland Beach on Saturday, November 2, 2024. (Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance)Owen Reiter
While voters in both district-mate options went for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, those in lower Manhattan did so more overwhelmingly, according to an analysis from The City news outlet.
That advantage could help Democrats take the only Republican-held congressional district in the five boroughs, which Malliotakis first won in 2020 when she defeated former Democratic Rep. Max Rose.
“The people of Staten Island and southern Brooklyn had a Democrat representing them. They fired that individual because they felt that person did not adequately represent them,” Malliotakis said. “This is the only competitive district that New York City has.”
The move could also help Democrats tip the scales in Washington as a counter to Trump’s administration. Currently, Republicans control 218 of the House of Representative’s 435 seats, giving them a slight advantage.
Seats across the country are up for grabs in November, and both parties have made mid-decade gerrymandering efforts in several states.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, left, listens as Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference in New York, Oct. 11, 2023. AP
Amid an August push from Republicans for more advantageous Texas congressional districts, Hochul said she intended to “fight fire with fire.” Staten Island’s congressional seat seems to be her party’s primary target in New York.
Congressional maps have been the center of a New York fight
Hochul is a defendant in the case, as are Sen. Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Attorney General Letitia James, all Democrats.
James’ office responded to a request for comment with reference to a letter they filed in the case on behalf of all four politicians.
The letter takes no position on the claim of racially-biased maps, and goes as far as preemptively arguing against Malliotakis’ attorneys who had to intervene in the case to defend the maps Democrats passed in 2024.
New York’s current congressional district maps replaced those created in 2022 by a court-appointed special master who took over the process after a controversial and chaotic state effort failed to deliver legally-acceptable maps.
Typically, states redraw their congressional district lines after each decennial U.S. Census giving political parties in control of a state government, Democrats in the case of New York, an opportunity to redraw advantageous lines and take more control over the federal government.
However, New York voters approved an Independent Redistricting Commission in 2014 that was meant to remove politics from the redistricting process.
The State Legislature did retain an approval requirement for the maps, so if the Independent Redistricting Commission doesn’t draw maps to New York Democrats’ liking, those maps won’t be approved.
That’s what happened in 2022, leading to the appointment of the special master, and in 2024 the State Legislature wound up drawing its own maps, leaving what the special master drew largely in place, particularly in the 11th Congressional District.
Petitioners in the ongoing case want Justice Jeffrey Pearlman to declare the existing map unlawful under the New York Constitution, and direct a redrawing of the 11th Congressional District.
Malliotakis’ attorneys attempted to have Pearlman recuse himself from the case, but were unsuccessful. He is an experienced election lawyer. He’s also worked as an attorney for Stewart-Cousins in multiple cases, and in multiple roles for Hochul, including as her chief of staff when she was lieutenant governor.
A decision in the Pearlman case is expected in time for this year’s elections, but no matter the outcome of this trial, it’s likely that the losing side will appeal.