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Court redistricting plan erases Democratic House gains in New York – Reuters

The map also created a potentially awkward situation for Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the fifth House Democrat, by cutting off Mr. Jeffries’ neighborhood from the district. He can still represent the district; the residency requirements only require Mr. Jeffries to live in New York State.

The new map would also eliminate swaths of Democratic-friendly areas that the Legislature had added to Republican seats in Staten Island and Long Island, restoring them as marquee districts rather than Democratic pickup opportunities.

Jonathan Cervas, the court-appointed special master, said his map would produce eight competitive House districts, compared to just three competitive seats he estimated the Democrats map would have yielded.

A Steuben County Supreme Court judge overseeing the case, Patrick F. McAllister, was expected to approve the additional state Congressional and Senate lines by Friday. Its approval would officially end a protracted and embarrassing legal saga that has left the decade-long redistricting process in limbo for months.

Public interest groups celebrated the result. They said that by striking down the Democratic maps as unconstitutional, the courts had finally upheld the will of New York voters, who in 2014 passed a constitutional amendment to remove partisan political motivations from the mapping process.

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