It’s a battle between Manhattan’s East and West sides!
Rep. Carolyn Maloney will have to defend her seat in Congress against fellow longtime Democratic veteran of the House Rep. Jerry Nadler in the upcoming primary, after newly-drawn Congressional maps shook up New York’s political scene Monday.
The revamped map, conceived by a court-appointed expert known as the “special master,” will pitch the two pols against each other, who have both served roughly three decades in Congress, for the new 12th District in the upcoming Democratic primary.
“I believe these newly proposed lines by the Special Master violate the NYS constitutional requirements of keeping communities of interest together and keeping the cores of existing districts largely intact. However, provided that they become permanent, I very much look forward to running in and representing the people of the newly-created 12th District of New York,” wrote Nadler in a statement published on Twitter Monday afternoon.
Statement from Congressman Jerrold Nadler: pic.twitter.com/3BS8CiqKIP
— Jerry Nadler (@JerryNadler) May 16, 2022
About 15 minutes later, Maloney issued her own statement on Twitter confirming she will run to keep her seat in her revised district, which now covers the middle section of Manhattan and all of Roosevelt Island.
“I am proud to announce that I will be running to continue to represent the 12th Congressional District,” Maloney tweeted. “A majority of the communities in the newly redrawn NY-12 are ones I have represented for years and to which I have deep ties.”
I am proud to announce that I will be running to continue to represent the 12th Congressional District. A majority of the communities in the newly redrawn NY-12 are ones I have represented for years and to which I have deep ties #NY12 #TeamMaloney
— Carolyn B. Maloney (@CarolynBMaloney) May 16, 2022
In a longer statement Maloney provided to amNewYork Metro, the lawmaker boasted about her work pushing for the Second Avenue Subway extension, getting infrastructure funding for the district, and fighting for COVID-19 relief.
“I am a proven progressive who gets things done with a record of accomplishment,” said Maloney. “I look forward to speaking with voters on the campaign trail!”
Maloney has been in Congress since 1993, while Nadler has served in the lower house since 1992.
The 12th District currently covers Manhattan’s East Side along with the northern Brooklyn waterfront and western Queens, while Nadler’s 10th District snakes from the Upper West Side down to central parts of southern Brooklyn.
Nadler’s decision to run in the 12th opens up the field for the 10th going from Lower Manhattan to parts of Brooklyn from the Brooklyn Heights waterfront through to parts of Park Slope.
The new maps were submitted by special master Jonathan Cervas — an expert and fellow at Carnegie Mellon University — to an upstate court Monday. He was chosen last month to draw up neutral districts for the state’s Congressional and State Senate districts after proposed lines drawn by the Democratic majority in Albany were struck down for being unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering.
The new maps will likely benefit Republicans like Brooklyn and Staten Island’s Nicole Malliotakis, giving them more of a fighting chance to make gains in the Empire State.
