New York Democrats’ gerrymander war pits AOC against Nancy Pelosi
The New York Democratic Party’s civil war over its botched gerrymander of congressional districts has reached the national level — pitting progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The battle lines between AOC — a socialist who reps portions of the Bronx and Queens — and national party leader Pelosi, of California, were drawn over an Empire State turf war sparked by the illegal gerrymandering of state party officials.
That led to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Sean Patrick Maloney‘s decision to challenge a sitting black congressman from a neighboring district after being redrawn out of his own.
Maloney indicated he would challenge first-term Rep. Mondaire Jones because of the proposed changes to their congressional districts drawn by a special master through a court order to resolve the unconstitutional gerrymander of New York state’s political map.
AOC on Thursday called for Maloney to resign his lofty party fundraising chair post over the knives-out political decision.
“I don’t think he should be DCCC chair if he’s going to challenge another member. It’s completely inappropriate,” AOC told punchbowlnews.
Pelosi at first refused to take the bait when asked at her weekly press conference about Maloney vs. Jones, saying, “I’m not getting involved in the politics of New York.”
But it didn’t take much to get her to wade in after a reporter pressed her on whether the local battle is having an impact on the national Democrats.
“Not at all,” she answered, to which Fox News’ Chad Pergram followed up, “Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t,” Pelosi insisted. “We have a great chairman of the DCCC, and we’re very proud of Sean Patrick Maloney.”
Meanwhile, AOC went on to say, “It’s also particularly shameful [that] a member of Democratic leadership, especially as the leader of the DCCC who asks all of us to make sacrifices .. cannot seem to take his redistricting on the chin,” according to Politico’s Ally Mutnick.
“Given the resources he has at his helm, it creates a conflict of interest,” Ocasio-Cortez said in calling for him to resign the fundraising post.
And she added of Maloney’s decision to vacate his current seat to challenge Jones, “It absolutely further imperils our majority by him vacating that seat, leaving it open and also really intruding on the district of a wonderful member,” Mutnick tweeted.
“I believe that if he’s going to enter in a primary and challenge another Democratic member, then he should step aside from his responsibilities of the DCCC,” AOC concluded.
Ocasio-Cortez, who is the unofficial leader of the party’s far-left progressive wing, challenged Maloney a day after Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres accused the DCCC head of engaging in “thinly veiled racism” for announcing his run against Jones in Jones’ redrawn 17th congressional district instead of his own remapped 18th district.
Maloney, via a request through the DCCC, had no immediate comment.
The Democrat vs Democrat infighting erupted thanks to the state party’s proposed congressional maps being tossed out by the courts for illegal partisan gerrymandering in a bid to increase Democratic representation in Congress.
Republican critics dubbed the gerrymandering a “Hochulmander” because Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the defective redistricting plan into law.
As a result, court-appointed special master Jonathan Cervantes has redrawn the state’s 26 congressional maps that has put some incumbents’ homes and power bases in the same district — potentially pitting them against each other.
Upstate Judge Patrick McAllister is expected to approve the new maps on Friday.
Another complication: the homes of two black incumbents — Jones and Rep. Jamaal Bowman — are lumped together.
Bowman, a former middle school principal, currently represents parts of The Bronx and Westchester. But The Bronx is carved out of his redrawn district that now goes farther north into Westchester.
In another example, veteran Manhattan Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney are thrown into the same district, the revamped 12th. Both said they intend to face off against each other.
Nadler has represented the West Side of Manhattan for four decades. Maloney has represented the East Side for just as long. Both were elected to Congress in 1992.
