Rep. Nadler ousts colleague Maloney in New York House Democratic primary brawl by Carly Roman
Rep. Jerry Nadler triumphed on Tuesday over his onetime ally Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a primary race that pitted the two incumbent Democrats against each other for control over a newly drawn congressional district.
Nadler, who under New York‘s outgoing congressional lines represented a district that hugged Manhattan’s west side and continued into parts of Brooklyn, will become the Democratic Party nominee to embark on what will likely be a cruise-control ride to the November finish line in the 12th Congressional District after a double-digit victory over Maloney, according to the Associated Press.
“Well New York…we did it! I’m so deeply grateful for your continued support and trust—I promise to keep on fighting for New Yorkers in Congress. Onwards!” Nadler tweeted.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee positioned himself as the more progressive candidate in his bid to represent the heavily Democratic district, touting endorsements from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and New York’s left-wing Working Families Party and slamming his opponent for her votes in support of the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. Nadler focused on national issues, drawing heavily on his background as a leading voice in favor of the two efforts to impeach former President Donald Trump.
Maloney, who climbed the ranks of House leadership to become the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee while representing what was once the more conservative “Silk Stocking District,” will be out of office for the first time since 1993. She spent the final days of the campaign championing her advocacy on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment and touting her regional victories bringing infrastructure projects to Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Throughout decades in office together side by side, Nadler and Maloney forged an alliance that was shattered when the two were thrown into the same congressional district after New York redrew its lines under orders from a state court. While the Democrats faced pressure to arrive at a compromise that could allow them to remain in office, both dug in their heels, refusing to run in different districts.
“I’m running in the New York 12, which is what I represent now. … I live in New York 12. I’ve represented it for three decades, and 61% of that district is mine. Thirty percent is his,” Maloney told the Washington Examiner.
Nadler rejected the notion that Maloney had more of a claim to the district than he did.
“The new district belongs to no individual candidate, but instead to the voters who call it home,” Nadler said.
An aggressive map signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul that would have locked in an expected 22-4 partisan advantage for Democrats was stricken by a series of courts. The legal challenges culminated in a state Supreme Court judge appointing a special master to go back to the drawing board to determine the boundaries governing the Empire State’s congressional delegation.
In May, special master Jonathan Cervas unveiled lines that created only 16 districts that heavily favor Democrats, leaving a handful of incumbents vulnerable to challenges from Republican candidates in what are anticipated to be devastating midterm elections for the Democratic Party. The state lost one of its 27 congressional seats following population loss recorded in the 2020 census.
The map forced other Democratic lawmakers into awkward games of political musical chairs as incumbents scrambled to find new seats rather than compete with one another. Freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones averted what would have been a bitter fight against Rep. Sean Maloney or a tense faceoff with ally Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York City’s northern suburbs by seeking office in an urban district. Jones hopes instead to represent the new 10th Congressional District, 40 miles south of his current district, because it is “the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ rights movement,” the lawmaker, who is one of the first black, gay representatives, said.
New York’s 12th Congressional District has a partisan voter index of D+68, meaning Nadler is expected to win the general election in November by a large margin.
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