New York state’s highest court on Tuesday ordered a redrawing of its congressional district map ahead of the 2024 elections.

The new maps could potentially give Democrats an advantage in what’s expected to be a photo-finish race for party control of the U.S. House of Representatives. 

In fact, New York State Democrats are reportedly expected to use the opportunity to try to shift two to six seats currently held by Republicans in swing districts that President Biden won in 2020.

The 4-3 decision by judges on the New York State Court of Appeals still prohibits partisan gerrymandering, but Democrats would only need to make slight alterations to the district lines to impact U.S. House Republicans’ current three-seat majority—a razor-thin majority that was recently narrowed further with the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) earlier this month and is expected to shrink even more with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) having announced that he’s resigning from Congress at year’s end.

New York’s current map helped Republicans flip four seats in the U.S. House during the 2022 midterms.

Democrats in Albany had made an attempt to redraw the maps ahead of the 2022 elections, but in response to a GOP lawsuit, the Appeals court at the time through out the Democrats’ maps as an unconstitutional gerrymander and put new maps in place that gave Republicans a chance to flip Democratic seats—as Santos did when he won his seat from incumbent Democrat Tom Suozzi.

While Democrats hailed the Court of Appeals’ decision, Republicans in New York and DC have vowed to challenge any new map they believe violates the ban on gerrymandering, setting up a scenario for yet another legal battle next year ahead of Election Day. 

Meanwhile, legal challenges to Congressional maps are also ongoing in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

PHOTO: New York Congressional Map released by Court special master in 2022 

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