The redistricting process ahead of the 2022 elections could decimate the ranks of New York Republicans in the House. And that has three of them eyeing the governor’s race instead as incumbent Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces waves of bad headlines over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After 2020 census information is ready, presumably by July, some states will have to give up House seats due to declining population. New York is expected to lose a seat, and, with state Democrats in full control of the redistricting process, if they want, the current delegation of 19 Democrats and 8 Republicans could shrink to a tiny 23-3 margin.
A handful of New York Republican lawmakers started to consider runs for governor as their own districts were placed on the chopping block when the state legislature began debating new redistricting proposals.
So, GOP Reps. Tom Reed, Elise Stefanik, and Lee Zeldin are considering their options.
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Reed, first elected in 2010 to represent his district that straddles the Pennsylvania state line, chided Cuomo, who is seeking a fourth term, over the disclosure his administration covered up information pertaining to COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents.
“We are seriously considering it. I’ve been asked by many people to do this for months because, I think, they appreciate the way I govern. Not governing by arrogance, bullying like Gov. Cuomo does, but trying to bring people together as a proud Republican.”
Last Thursday, Reed, 49, announced he would file a complaint against Cuomo’s top aide Melissa DeRosa, who previously revealed to New York Democrats that the Cuomo administration obscured and undercounted nursing home coronavirus deaths.
“Governor Cuomo needs to be taken down. Given an opportunity to do my part to serve and try to change the direction of the state, we are definitely looking at it,” Reed said in a statement to the Washington Examiner when asked about his interest in running for the governor’s mansion.
How far state Democrats go in the redistricting process is an open question. Redistricting maps are initially drawn up by a 10-member commission, with four Democrats, four Republicans, and two members unaffiliated with either party. But Democrats can ignore their proposal if they wish. That’s something they’ll be under great pressure to do by national Democrats as the party is expected to lose House seats in states where Republicans control the redistricting process, including Ohio and Florida.
Zeldin said Democrats shouldn’t go that route.
“One question that’s outstanding is whether or not the Dems are going to seek to be totally hypocritical, and go back on their own proposal that they made successfully into a constitutional amendment a decade ago, to go back to partisan gerrymandering, that question is still outstanding,” Zeldin told the Washington Examiner.
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Zeldin, 41, an Iraq military veteran, was easily reelected in November for a fourth term. He previously served in the state Senate and has called on the Justice Department to investigate Cuomo’s executive actions on COVID-19 mandates related to thousands of New York City nursing home deaths.
