Bayside's Congressional Lines Are Redrawn: What To Know

BAYSIDE, QUEENS —New York lawmakers will vote this week on their recent redesign of the state's congressional maps following the 2020 Census, which could boost the party's standing in Washington and bring changes to northeast Queens.

The maps, which were released on Sunday, were drawn by Democrats in Albany after New York's independent redistricting commission — a body created for the purpose of nonpartisan redistricting — failed to approve a bipartisan map in January. The Democrat-controlled state legislature is expected to easily pass the plans in a vote on Wednesday.

Under the new maps, an even larger swath of Bayside will become part of the 6th Congressional District, now represented by Grace Meng, who is running for a sixth term this year.

District 6 is set to expand further north into parts of Bay Terrace that are currently within the 3rd Congressional District, maps show.

This marks a change in District 3 overall, which would lose almost all of its Queens voters in the new plan, instead gaining voters in parts of Westchester and The Bronx (and retaining ground on the north shore of Long Island).

Neighbors in Bay Terrace would join Baysiders in District 6 under the new plan, but other neighborhoods — like Bay Terrace, Beechurst, Whitestone, and College Point — will become part of the largely progressive 14th Congressional District, represented by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

These boundary changes, albeit relatively small in size, mark a sizable political shift for voters in northeast Queens, who just elected Republican Vickie Paladino to the City Council, and would now become part of a congressional district alongside voters in Astoria and the south Bronx.

Northwest Queens' State Senator Michael Gianaris, who chairs the legislative redistricting task force, told WNYC on Tuesday that his party's maps (which are widely regarded as partisan) weren't created to unfairly benefit Democrats.

"As we unravel the gerrymanders of the past it doesn't make it a gerrymander of today," he said of the maps, taking aim at New York Republicans' past redistricting efforts (Republicans long-controlled the state's Senate and Assembly, commanding more power over redistricting).

"These are districts that are drawn fairly. If they had been drawn fairly at the outset this is perhaps what they would have looked like," he added, noting that New York is a "deep blue state" and that maps that lead to more Democrats getting elected reflect the "reality on the ground."

Republicans, however, have hotly contended claims that the maps are fair; Nick Langworthy, the chairman of the New York Republican Party, called them "textbook filthy, partisan gerrymandering," noting that his party might challenge the lines as unconstitutional in court.

Analyst Dave Wasserman expects that Republicans will lose half of their eight congressional districts once the new maps take effect, giving Democrats an advantage in 22 of the state's now 26 House districts during midterm elections this fall.

Use the slider on the map below, courtesy of CUNY's Center for Urban Research, to switch between the district's current and proposed lines: