Judge’s plan for North Country House seat ousts region’s two Republicans
The proposed 21st District puts almost the entire Adirondack Park into one district.
(CLARIFICATION: Mark Wilson points out that a tiny chunk of the Park in Oneida County will fall in the 22nd district.)
Under a plan released yesterday by a Federal judge, the North Country will likely be consolidated into a single congressional district, known as New York’s 21st District.
That would mean the ouster of Kinderhook Republican Chris Gibson, the freshman elected in 2010, who now represents chunks of Saratoga, Washington, Warren and Essex Counties.
It would also mean Republican Rep. Richard Hanna no longer representing a small chunk of the North Country around Old Forge.
Meanwhile, the old NY-23 district, now represented by Democrat Bill Owens from Plattsburgh would be dramatically redrawn, lopping off the chunk that now extends into central New York.
Instead, the district will gobble up those pieces of the North Country now represented by Gibson and Hanna.
It’s unclear how this plan will affect the fortunes of the top contenders, including Owens and challenger Matt Doheny, the Republican from Watertown.
The new NY-21 would include more Democrat-leaning sections of Saratoga County, but it would also gather in conservative, Republican-tilting sections of Washington and Warren Counties.
Other wild cards include the possibility that other candidates could jump into the race.
This week, Lake Placid Conservative Doug Hoffman announced that he was considering another run for the North Country’s congressional seat.
This map puts his home smack in the middle of the district.
One other detail: For the first time in my tenure in the North Country, this puts the entire Adirondack Park in one congressional district.
Tags: adirondacks, election12, politics, redistricting
Sounds interesting. Where’s the map.
Is this the “Assembly Republicans’ Proposed Congressional Map” that was in the Auburn Citizen?
http://auburnpub.com/news/local/proposed-congressional-district-maps-may-mean-changes/article_c8b8e55a-641f-11e1-ac51-001871e3ce6c.html?print=1
https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/pub/docs/cv/324457/1.11.cv.5632.6729180.2.pdf
Brian – how likely are these districts to be actually adopted?
Nice maps, Peter.
The proposed 21st District seems to logical to be possible in this state, but maybe, in today’s climate, too logical for the old bulls to defeat.
I wonder how close it is to the Common Cause version?
This proposed map seems logical to me. Relatively straight lines means no gerrymandering. I say go for it no matter whether it benefits Democrats or Republicans.
I think this map has a great chance of being the one adopted. I don’t generally make predictions like this, but I’m betting this is pretty darned close to the final version.
–Brian, NCPR
I think we need to agitate to have the magistrate arrange a swap with the 22nd: that little bulge of Herkimer County below Hinckley Reservoir for the 25 square mile corner of Oneida County that lies inside the Blue Line. This map just offends my tightly-wound sense of civic organization.
I like the shape of it.
marquil is right.
just for the sake of neatness, it would tie it up nicely into one parkage package
“One other detail: For the first time in my tenure in the North Country, this puts the entire Adirondack Park in one congressional district.”
no, it doesn’t. Part of the towns of Forestport and Remsen in Oneida county are within the Blue Line and I believe part of Schenectady is within the Blue Line, as well. Neither of those counties are in the proposed 21st district.