This is a map that could be passed if the legislature can agree on a map. Such a map would have to be mostly clean, because otherwise Gov. Cuomo would not sign it. The map leaves most incumbents as is, and eliminates Rep. Turner downstate and Rep. Hinchey’s district upstate. These are both D+ PVI districts, so the remainders had to be distributed carefully. This results in similar but slightly more Democratic districts for Hayworth and Gibson. The earmuffs was also dismantled, which gave areas of downtown Buffalo to Rep. Hochul. Considering we are eliminating two Democratic PVI seats in this exercise, I thought that was appropriate as well.
27) Higgins – South Buffalo and areas south. 55 % Obama.
26) Hochul – North Buffalo, Amherst, Niagara. 53.5% Obama.
22) Reed- Corning, Elmira, and picks up Ithaca from the former 22nd. PVI stays about the same due to dropping liberal areas near Rochester, 48 % Obama.
9) Slaughter – Monroe County only. 58.6 % Obama.
25) Buerkle – Syracuse and environs, 56 % Obama. Same percentage as current map.
23) Owens – Stays pretty much the same. Obama 52.5%
24) Hanna – Utica, Rome, picks up Binghamton from Hinchey’s district. Obama 49 %.
21) Tonko – Stays pretty much the same, Albany, Troy and up NW to grab Tonko’s home in Amsterdam. 57.7% Obama
20) Gibson- Takes Catskills area from Hinchey and the area around Gibson’s home in the Hudson Valley. Obama 53 %.
19) Hayworth – Still based in Putnam and the lower Hudson. Takes Poughkeepsie from old Hinchey district. Obama 53 %.
18) Lowey - Westchester only district. Obama 61%.
17) Engel – All of Rockland County, takes a route through Tarrytown, Irvington and Dobbs Ferry, Yonkers to get to Riverdale and the Bronx. Obama 69 %. VAP 42/30/22/5.
16) Serrano – 63 % Hispanic VAP.
15) Rangel - Northern Manhattan plus part of the Bronx makes this a Hispanic VRA district. Should be a required draw, the noises about making this tri-county to Mt. Vernon are pretty silly. Total Hispanic 56.3%, VAP 53.7 %.
7) Crowley- The ugliest part of the map. Tricounty from Eastern Bronx, Northern Queens and 100k voters in Downtown Brooklyn. I had to draw this in this fashion (as opposed as into Middle Village) because of Velasquez’s district grabbing up those Central Queens Hispanics. However, Astoria’s voters should be receptive to Crowley. VAP 50/11/24/14.
8) Nadler – His base in the UWS, plus the west side, and down through Boro Park to Southern Brooklyn. Obama 75%.
14) Maloney- Manhattan based district only for her. Takes most of downtown as well. Obama 80%.
13) Grimm – Staten Island plus Bay Ridge area. Same as current district. Obama 50.7%.
10/11) Towns/Clarke. VRA districts help chop up Turner’s seat and remain barely acceptable under VRA. Both are 50 % VAP AA.
6) Meeks – You don’t need a spindly mess to Hempstead to make this VAP majority AA. I grabbed his SE Queens base, plus Elmont in Nassau plus a little bit of Eastern Brooklyn to make this above 50.2 VAP AA.
5) Ackerman – This district is based in Forest Hills and Central Queens. Ackerman used to live her and represented a district like this in the 1980’s. I tried to keep as much of the Asian areas of Queens in this district. Obama 65% , VAP 36.6/5/21/35.
12) Velasquez- District gains about 15 % in Hispanic VAP percentage. Now more heavily Queens based (Elmhurst/Corona area), pulls out of the LES in Manhattan and Sunset Park in Brooklyn. A lot more compact. 53.3 % VAP Hispanic.
4) McCarthy- takes a sliver of Queens plus Democratic areas of Nassau. Obama 59.4%.
3) King – takes all the Republican areas on the South Shore. Obama 46.4%
2) Israel – Central Long Island. Obama 55.1%.
1) Bishop – district in Eastern Suffolk stays the same. Obama 52%.
There ya go! Breaks Turner up amongst Towns, Clarke + Nadler and gives Hinchey District away several ways (Ithaca to Reed, Poughkeepsie to Hayworth, Binghamton to Hanna, Catskills to Gibson)