Joseph Ax

(Reuters] – New York’s bipartisan Redistricting Commission has failed to agree on a new congressional mapping. The result means that Democratic lawmakers in the state will redraw districts in a process which could impact control of U.S. House of Representatives at the November midterm elections.

It had to vote by Tuesday for a map to be submitted to the state legislatures. On Monday, Republican and Democratic commissioners made a series of vehement statements in which they accused each other of bias. It was clear that no agreement would result.

According to the Democratic members, “We have worked with our Republican friends in good faith over two years to come up with a single consensus plan.” “They have rejected every attempt to reach a compromise at any step.”

Republican commissioners stated that Democrats intentionally refused to negotiate.

They wrote that they had deliberately scuttled this process in order to have the district line determination sent back to a legislature controlled primarily by Democrat supermajorities.

U.S. states have to redraw their congressional lines at least once every decade in order to keep up with population changes. Redistricting is a process where one party alters the lines of a district to consolidate its power. In many states, redistricting is controlled by lawmakers.

New York is the perfect place for Democrats to make use of their state legislative control to win a few seats, with Republicans having already passed favorable maps in states like Texas and Georgia.

19 out of 27 state congressional seats are currently held by Democrats. According to analysts, the state will hold 26 of its 27 congressional seats by 2022. However, a heavily gerrymandered electoral map could result in as many as five Republican-held seats.

The U.S. House has a narrow edge for Democrats at 222-212, and there is one vacancy.