Forest Hills' Congressional District Will Get Conservative Influx

FOREST HILLS, 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 but bring an influx of more conservative voters to Forest Hills.

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, all of Forest Hills will remain part of the 6th Congressional District, now represented by Grace Meng, who is running for a sixth term this year.

District 6 is largely set to remain the same — including neighborhoods like Forest Hills, Rego Park, Middle Village, Kew Garden Hills, Fresh Meadows, and Flushing — but the district is set to expand slightly further northeast into more conservative territory.

Some of the northeast Queens voters in Bay Terrace and Clearview who elected Republican Vickie Paladino into City Council, will move from the 3rd Congressional District to the 6th, maps show.

The shift, however, is not sizable enough to cost Meng her Democratic voter base, especially since the district will see small gains in the largely-progressive neighborhood of Woodside.

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: