{"id":109296,"date":"2026-01-23T01:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/109296\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T01:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:10:09","slug":"staten-island-democrats-rally-behind-redistricting-ruling-as-republicans-vow-to-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/109296\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island Democrats rally behind redistricting ruling as Republicans vow to fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Members of Staten Island\u2019s Democratic Party gathered outside the Richmond County Supreme Court building in St. George Thursday afternoon to defend a ruling that declared the borough\u2019s congressional district unconstitutional.<\/a><\/p>\n

Assemblyman Charles Fall, who serves as both deputy majority leader of the New York State Assembly and chair of Staten Island\u2019s Democratic Party, said the decision was grounded in law, not politics. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision was based off of the facts,\u201d Fall said. \u201cThe court determined that the 11th Congressional District is unconstitutional. And when a district is deemed unconstitutional, that means there needs to be action in place so voters can make the right decisions in the future under the right boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remarks came a day after a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that the boundaries of New York\u2019s 11th Congressional District violated the state Constitution, leading Democrats to defend the decision and Republicans to denounce it as partisan with a pledge to appeal.<\/p>\n

Justice Jeffrey Pearlman ruled Wednesday that the district violated Article III of the state Constitution. He ordered the New York Independent Redistricting Commission to finalize new boundary lines by Feb. 6. <\/p>\n

The argument for redistricting was that the current map, approved in 2024 by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York Legislature, violates the rights of Black and Latino voters and does not accurately reflect population changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticFrom the left, Tim Qorraj, Troy McGhie and Alexis M. Rodriguez, Democrats who will be challenging seats currently held by Staten Island Republicans in November, appeared outside the Richmond County Supreme Court building in St. George on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 to defend a ruling that declared the borough\u2019s congressional district unconstitutional.(Advance\/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)<\/p>\n

The district, which encompasses Staten Island and parts of South Brooklyn, is currently represented by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican.<\/p>\n

Fall said the ruling upheld constitutional principles rather than partisan interests. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis ruling is not about favoring one party or presenting a disadvantage to another,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about something far more fundamental: the responsibility of every branch of government to follow the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Elias Law Group, based in Washington, D.C., which brought the case, sought a reconfiguration of the district from its current composition of Staten Island and South Brooklyn into lower Manhattan. Staten Island does not have enough population to support a congressional district on its own.<\/p>\n

Republicans strongly objected to the ruling. Malliotakis said her office is \u201creviewing the judge\u2019s decision and our options to protect the voices of the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNothing changes the fact that this is a frivolous attempt by Washington Democrats to steal this congressional seat from the people, and we are very confident that we will prevail at the end of the day,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticAssemblyman Charles D. Fall was joined by members of Staten Island’s Democratic Party outside the Richmond County Supreme Court building in St. George on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 to defend a ruling that declared the borough\u2019s congressional district unconstitutional.(Advance\/SILive.com | Scott R. Axelrod)<\/p>\n

Troy McGhie, a career educator and high school basketball coach from New Brighton and a Democrat looking to unseat Malliotakis in November, said the ruling could result in broader representation in the district. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis ruling is important because it creates a more level playing field and opens the door to representation that includes the North Shore, Mid-Island and other areas, depending on how the maps are drawn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Assemblyman Michael Tannousis, Staten Island\u2019s Republican Party chair who represents the East Shore and part of South Brooklyn, called the ruling \u201ca complete sham\u201d and questioned the judge\u2019s impartiality, pointing to Pearlman\u2019s previous work as special counsel to Gov. Kathy Hochul. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are trying to fracture our community because they don\u2019t like how we vote,\u201d Tannousis said. \u201cIt\u2019s rigged. It\u2019s transparently partisan, and it\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

A shift into lower Manhattan would likely give Democrats an electoral advantage over Malliotakis in the midterm elections. However, such a reconfiguration would not be unprecedented. <\/p>\n

Assembly District 64, represented by Fall, stretches from Staten Island\u2019s North Shore through parts of Brooklyn into lower Manhattan. Staten Island\u2019s congressional district also included parts of lower Manhattan following the 1970 Census.<\/p>\n

Fall said he expects Republicans to appeal the decision but expressed confidence that it will be upheld. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe higher courts will agree with the Supreme Court\u2019s decision here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Members of Staten Island\u2019s Democratic Party gathered outside the Richmond County Supreme Court building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-109296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}