Heastie blames 'Republican in Democratic clothing' for redistricting debacle

And Hochul calls Stefanik's response to shooting 'pathetic' in television interview.

Good afternoon — it’s Tuesday and Wing Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• Will Democrats ask voters for the power to redraw congressional districts? Here’s what Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie said Tuesday.

• Assemblyman Billy Jones, the only Democrat representing part of the North Country, is resigning.

• Hochul and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik traded insults Tuesday over last night’s mass shooting in Manhattan.

• 17 bills have now been sent to Hochul for consideration. Here’s what they are.

• A new bill seeks to set stricter licensing regulations for people that work with textured hair.

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Carl E. Heastie, Michael Gianaris, Micah Lasher, Elise Stefanik, Hakeem Jeffries, Lea Webb

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There’s a lot to watch in politics. This section gives you a quick look at news on elections that might interest you.

Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie (and yours truly in the background) (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

🗺️ What Heastie said about the new redistricting bill

New York’s 27 districts in Congress have already been redrawn twice since the 2020 U.S. Census.

If you’re not familiar with the state’s redistricting process, it’s better if I don’t do a full historical recounting. It’s complicated and inevitably partisan.

But I’ll give you a short synopsis on how we got here over the last decade or so. If you don’t need that, skip to the next section, where you see the 🗣️.

It’s supposed to be managed by the Independent Redistricting Commission, an entity created after voters approved a measure to enshrine it into the state constitution in 2014. Its first change to do its job came after the 2020 census.

But the commission is split evenly between members appointed by Democrats and Republicans, seemingly as a way to prevent politics from driving the process.

The commission couldn’t agree on a new set of maps after the 2020 census. So instead of figuring out how to work together, the two factions of the commission each sent a set of maps to the Legislature for consideration.

The Legislature rejected those maps and Democrats decided to draw the districts themselves. Republicans sued them and the Court of Appeals, the state’s top court, ultimately threw them out, calling them an unconstitutional gerrymander.

A special master chosen by the trial court judge was then ordered to redraw the state’s congressional districts (and others I won’t get into) as a third party. Those were used for the elections in 2022.

More litigation prompted the commission to revive its map-making effort. This time, they were able to agree on a single set of maps to send to the Legislature for consideration.

But Democrats rejected those maps and drew the districts themselves again. Those are the districts that were used for the 2024 elections and are still in place.