ALBANY, New York — New York’s redistricting commission is returning to business on Thursday with the hope it can reach a bipartisan deal on new House lines that could play a pivotal role in which party controls the chamber next year.
“I believe there is,” Charles Nesbitt, the Republican chair of the commission, said when asked if there’s an agreement.
“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Democratic Chair Ken Jenkins said in a separate interview with POLITICO. “But you never know.”
A deal between five Democrats and five Republicans on the Independent Redistricting Commission would not be the end of the process to redraw New York’s 26 House seats after the state’s top court last year tossed the current lines. There are about six battleground races in New York this year, and any shift in the lines could prove important in who wins the seats.
Any maps the commission produces would be voted on by the state Legislature — and the Democrats who dominate it would have the option of rejecting the lines and instead drafting their own.