{"id":97086,"date":"2026-01-12T11:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T11:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/97086\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T11:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T11:12:09","slug":"redistricting-lawsuit-could-flip-staten-islands-congressional-seat-for-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/97086\/","title":{"rendered":"Redistricting lawsuit could flip Staten Island\u2019s congressional seat for Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Democrats looking for a leg up in the 2026 congressional elections have again set their sights on Staten Island.<\/p>\n

A case making its way through the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan<\/a> could see the shared portion of Staten Island\u2019s congressional district, represented by Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, shifted from part of South Brooklyn to lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most egregious, frivolous attempt we\u2019ve seen yet from Washington Democrats to erase the voice of the people of our district,\u201d Malliotakis said Thursday. \u201cWhat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Washington, D.C.-based Elias Law Group filed the lawsuit related to Staten Island\u2019s district on behalf of two Staten Islanders and two Manhattanites, and has handled much of Democrats\u2019 redistricting litigation.<\/p>\n

\"File:Rep. Nicole Malliotakis pictured Oct. 10, 2024, shows Malliotakis in the Advance\u2019s Bloomfield office.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jason Paderon)<\/p>\n

In the firm\u2019s case related to New York\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

They argue congressional district maps drawn in 2024 should\u2019ve brought the 11th Congressional District into Manhattan to create a \u201cminority influence district\u201d where Black and Latino voters on Staten Island could combine with communities in Lower Manhattan to elect their candidates of choice.<\/p>\n

A portion of the state constitution is written to ensure racial and language minority groups \u201cdo not have less opportunity\u201d to elect their preferred candidates.<\/p>\n

The petition filed in October acknowledges Malliotakis as the Island\u2019s first Latino member of Congress, but discounts her Cuban heritage as she was \u201cnot the candidate of choice for either Black or Hispanic voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

What a different district would look like<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s plan effectively trades 11th Congressional District\u2019s South Brooklyn geography with most of the 10th Congressional District\u2019s share of Manhattan outside Chinatown. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s map come to fruition. Goldman resides in Battery Park City.<\/p>\n

Staten Island doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

The move isn\u2019t 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\u2019s congressional district following the 1970 Census also encompassed parts of lower Manhattan. <\/p>\n

A new Democratic advantage?<\/p>\n

Staten Island has been one of New York\u2019s most conservative locales for a decade with almost 64% of the borough voting for President Donald Trump in 2024. <\/p>\n

\"StatenCongresswoman Nicole Malliotakis speaks at the Staten Island Republican Party\u2019s \u201cTrump Triumph Rally\u201d in Midland Beach on Saturday, November 2, 2024. (Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance)Owen Reiter<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Malliotakis said. \u201cThis is the only competitive district that New York City has.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move could also help Democrats tip the scales in Washington as a counter to Trump\u2019s administration. Currently, Republicans control 218 of the House of Representative\u2019s 435 seats, giving them a slight advantage.<\/p>\n

Seats across the country are up for grabs in November, and both parties have made mid-decade gerrymandering efforts in several states.<\/p>\n

\"KathyNew York Gov. Kathy Hochul, left, listens as Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference in New York, Oct. 11, 2023. AP<\/p>\n

Amid an August push from Republicans for more advantageous Texas congressional districts<\/a>, Hochul said she intended to \u201cfight fire with fire.\u201d Staten Island\u2019s congressional seat seems to be her party\u2019s primary target in New York.<\/p>\n

Congressional maps have been the center of a New York fight<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

James\u2019 office responded to a request for comment with reference to a letter they filed in the case on behalf of all four politicians.<\/p>\n

The letter takes no position on the claim of racially-biased maps, and goes as far as preemptively arguing against Malliotakis\u2019 attorneys who had to intervene in the case to defend the maps Democrats passed in 2024.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

However, New York voters approved an Independent Redistricting Commission in 2014 that was meant to remove politics from the redistricting process.<\/p>\n

The State Legislature did retain an approval requirement for the maps, so if the Independent Redistricting Commission doesn\u2019t draw maps to New York Democrats\u2019 liking, those maps won\u2019t be approved.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Malliotakis\u2019 attorneys attempted to have Pearlman recuse himself from the case, but were unsuccessful. He is an experienced election lawyer. He\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

A decision in the Pearlman case is expected in time for this year\u2019s elections, but no matter the outcome of this trial, it\u2019s likely that the losing side will appeal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Democrats looking for a leg up in the 2026 congressional elections have again set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-97086","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\/97086","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=97086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}