Here’s a little insider info on what’s going on with the district maps.

Dear Friend,

 

It has been a wild week in New York State politics, so this email might be a bit long – but it is important to lay the situation out clearly.

 

If you don’t have time to read it all, here are the highlights:

  1. The court of appeals has invalidated our approved district lines on procedural grounds.
  2. The new primary date is August 23, 2022.
  3. This is the result of a fatally flawed process created by Republicans a decade ago.
  4. We need to be ready for anything – new lines, petitioning again, GOP misinformation – so I am asking for your support today.
 

Last week, the Court of Appeals ordered that the congressional and state senate district maps be re-drawn by a special master appointed by a trial judge from Steuben County. The trial judge also pushed back the primary election date for Congress and the State Senate to August 23rd. The Court of Appeals determined that the process used to create new district maps this year was flawed, and furthermore that the congressional maps were impermissibly partisan.

 

The special master will issue new district maps by May 20th. This means that we need to be prepared to petition to get on the ballot if our district is given a new map — which means we will have to pay all over again for legal fees, printing fees, and more. 

 

Can I count on you to make sure we will be on the ballot and fighting for our community, no matter what a judge in Steuben County does?

Beyond the likelihood of petitioning again, it remains to be seen what this all means for our district and our campaign, but I promise that once we know, I will share it with you.

 

It’s important to explain exactly what’s going on and how we got here. You need to know the truth: 

 

  • Despite misinformation from local Republican and Conservative party leaders, every single court that reviewed the state senate lines found them to be substantively valid. It was just the process that invalidated them. Our new district, as well as the creation of the first-ever Asian plurality district in Brooklyn, were otherwise completely valid.

  • The procedural problem that invalidated the district lines is the result of a fatally flawed process made by former Governor Cuomo and the State Senate GOP in 2012 to keep Republicans in power. Under the Cuomo/Republican redistricting process, the lines must be drawn by the Independent Redistricting Commission. But they intentionally did not lay out a process for us to follow if the commission ends in deadlock. 

 

Last year, the legislature tried to pass a constitutional amendment to fix this flaw, but the Conservative Party and its billionaire financiers spent millions of dollars to defeat it. So the legislature passed a law to say that if the commission reached a stalemate, the legislature could take their work and finish the map process. 

 

Predictably, when the Independent Redistricting Commission stalemated and did not send the legislature a final set of maps, we followed the process under the law we passed last year to finish the job. The Court of Appeals said that wasn’t the right solution, but didn’t address the fact that there was no other solution available.

 

Make no mistake: we are in this situation because the Republicans tried to stack the deck in their favor back in 2012. Back then, I was outspoken in calling out the local Republicans for trying to manipulate the redistricting process in their favor. Now that they've lost power, they are trying to buy their way in by relying on billionaires and misinformation. 

 

Don't buy the lies for a second.

 

Here’s a just a sample of the narrative they are trying to build:

We have heard these kinds of attacks before from Trump and his cronies. Rigged elections. Partisan courts. Forged Votes. It is all a distraction from what the GOP seems to be trying to do: gain power at whatever the cost and in the process stop the first ever Asian plurality/majority state senate district in southern Brooklyn just to suit their own political gains.

 

My plan to win this district, whatever the lines, remains the same: talk to every voter, fight for the issues that matter to them, and deliver in Albany as I have been since 2019.


We need to be ready for anything though, so I am asking you to support the campaign today however you can. I am all in but it is going to take all of us. Can I count on you to join me?

We have a few days left in the legislative session and more work to do. I'm ready to get back to work, and also ready to run for re-election on my record.

 

Okay. What’s next?

Andrew
 

Andrew for New York

725 70th Street, Apt C1

Brooklyn, New York 11228

 

 

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