Representative Nicole Malliotakis speaking at a news conference on Capitol Hill on February 25, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Another year, another New York City congressional map?
A judge ruled Thursday that the boundaries of the city’s lone Republican-represented congressional district are unconstitutional, setting the stage for yet another potential redistricting stand-off in state courts that could endanger the party’s hold on the seat and Representative Nicole Malliotakis’s reelection.
In his decision, State Supreme Court justice Jeffrey Pearlman ruled in favor of a legal challenge to the 11th Congressional District, concluding that the district as drawn dilutes the voting power of Black and Latino residents in Staten Island by not accounting for population growth in both communities.
Pearlman ordered the state’s independent redistricting commission to reconvene in order to draw new lines for the district by February 6. The ruling is expected to be appealed. While it is currently unclear how the panel would tackle any potential redrawing of the district, any change to the congressional lines likely poses a threat to the Republican Party’s slim representation in the city.
The 11th Congressional District, which contains the entirety of the consistently conservative Staten Island and southern Brooklyn, is currently represented by Malliotakis, the city’s lone Republican representative in Congress. Proposed variations of the district show the area picking up portions of lower Manhattan from the neighboring Tenth District, a move that would make the district far more friendly to Democrats and make Malliotakis’s chances for reelection in the fall much more difficult.
In a statement, Malliotakis called the lawsuit that prompted the ruling “meritless” and signaled that a court challenge to Pearlman’s decision was on the table. “We will use every legal option at our disposal, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, to protect the voices of the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn, and we are very confident that we will prevail at the end of the day,” she wrote on social media.
Reaction to the judge’s ruling largely fell on partisan lines. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who looks to grow his party’s representation in the House of Representatives, appeared satisfied with the decision. “This ruling is the first step toward ensuring communities of interest remain intact from Staten Island to lower Manhattan. The voters of New York deserve the fairest congressional map possible,” he said in a statement.
Ed Cox, the chairman of the state’s Republican Party, denounced the judge’s ruling as a “cynical attempt to enact an illegal partisan gerrymander under the guise of a voting rights case.” “The Staten Island/Brooklyn congressional district has existed for almost 45 years. Kathy Hochul and Democrats insult the intelligence of NY-11 voters when they engage in such partisan gerrymandering,” he said in a statement.
The ramifications of redrawing the district would likely extend beyond Malliotakis’s prospects. Speculation is growing that Representative Dan Goldman might pursue a challenge to Malliotakis in her likely more competitive district rather than seek reelection in the neighboring Tenth District, where he is currently facing a prominent primary challenger in former comptroller Brad Lander. Goldman already represents lower Manhattan, which could potentially be part of the redrawn district lines.
Goldman did not close the door to that possibility in a statement following the ruling. “I’m proud to represent my constituents in my current district and focused on running for reelection to continue to build on the work we are doing together,” he said. “Our top priority must be to retake the majority and make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker, and I will always place that goal first.”
Over the past several years, New York has been the center of several high-profile redistricting fights. In 2022, an independent special master was appointed by the courts to draw new congressional boundaries after a protracted legal battle and after the independent redistricting commission failed to agree on a pair of new maps and the Democratic legislature’s proposed boundaries were deemed an unconstitutional gerrymander. The state later signed off on a new congressional map in 2024 after the courts ruled that the special master’s map was temporary, tasking the commission with completing its duty to draw new lines.
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