The impending loss of a New York House seat was welcome news in New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo is exploring legal options to keep the state’s congressional representation.
The Democrat said New York’s loss of one House seat as a result of population shifts recorded by the 2020 census was “not desirable,” adding that “the last thing we want to do is lose representation in Washington.”
“Do I think [the census] was accurate to within 89? No, and we’re looking at legal options,” he said during a press conference on Tuesday, alluding to the assessment that New York would not have lost its seat had it only counted 89 more people.
89 MORE NEW YORKERS WOULD HAVE SAVED CONGRESSIONAL SEAT, CENSUS OFFICIAL SAYS
Cuomo’s comments echoed a press statement, also released on Tuesday.
“Despite a growing state population, New York State’s congressional delegation will lose a seat in the House of Representatives next year, having fallen an equally-unprecedented 89 responses short of continuity. So much of our state’s recovery, revitalization, and resilience is dependent on having our voice heard in Washington, and … I’m calling on the Attorney General to review all legal options available to ensure the voice of every New Yorker is fairly and wholly represented in the halls of Congress,” he said.
The governor faulted the Trump administration for the results, saying the “chilling effect” former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies had on undocumented immigrants caused them not to fill out census forms.
Kristin Koslap, a senior technical expert for the 2020 census apportionment in the bureau’s Population Division, reported on Monday that New York fell 89 people short of keeping its 27th congressional seat, which was instead reapportioned to Minnesota.
There were 20,215,751 New York residents in 2020, according to census officials, up from 19,378,102 people in 2010. Minnesota’s population has also grown. The state now has 5,709,752 residents, up from 5,314,879 in 2010, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
Under the new census data, Texas will gain two seats, while Florida, Colorado, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon will each gain one. California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia will each lose one House seat, along with New York.
Cuomo is facing several scandals threatening his governorship.
The governor is under federal investigation for his handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic after Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa acknowledged that the governor’s office hid the state’s nursing home coronavirus death toll out of fear of political retribution, and he also faces accusations of directing state health officials to give special COVID-19 testing access to members of his inner circle. Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, rejected the latter charge as an “insincere effort to rewrite the past” in an email to the Washington Examiner.
The governor has also been accused of sexual harassment by 10 women, claims that have led to separate investigations by Attorney General Letitia James, as well as the New York state Assembly. Cuomo, who has repeatedly rejected charges of inappropriate touching, again denied accusations of inappropriate behavior toward women.
“I have never touched anyone inappropriately,” he said during Tuesday’s press conference.
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Despite mounting pressure from within his party to step aside, Cuomo, who is eligible to seek a fourth term in office in 2022, has vowed not to resign, saying that the allegations of impropriety against him are false.
