New redistricting maps released with a State Supreme Court order at 12:17 am today reveal that Sullivan County will remain whole in a revamped 19th Congressional District and will also stay intact in the redrawn 51st Senatorial District that Sullivan is joining.
The new boundaries will be in effect for this November's election cycle. However, in many races there will be Republican and Democratic primaries in June and August.
And, of special interest to Sullivan residents, there will be a special election for CD 19 to replace Congressman Antonio Delgado, who is now the Lt. Governor-designate. A date for that election has not been set but is likely to be in August.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan announced Monday that he will run for Delgado's seat in that August special election in which he will oppose Republican Mark Molinaro, the Dutchess County Executive. Regardless of that outcome, Ryan announced that he is a candidate in November for Congressional District 18, which now includes much more of his home county.
But in another twist this week, Democrat Josh Riley of Ithaca threw his hat into the CD 19 ring after previously intending to run in CD 22. However, he is not a candidate in the special election.
On Saturday, Jamie Cheney, a Democrat from Rhinebeck, announced that she is also a candidate for CD 19.
The Democratic Party primary date for those running in November is August 23.
The State Senate's 51st District, where Sullivan now belongs, pits incumbent Republican Peter Oberacker against Democrat Eric Ball of Walton, NY in Delaware County.
Special Master Jonathan Cervas was appointed last month by State Supreme Court Justice Paul McAllister (Steuben County) to redraw and resubmit new maps for the New York's Congressional and State Senate Districts.
That was preceded by a New York Court of Appeals decision that upheld a decision by McAllister rejecting the maps created by Democratic leaders in Albany, a huge victory for former Republican Congressman John Faso, who played a pivotal role in bringing the legal action against Governor Kathy Hochul and the top Democratic leaders in the State Legislature. Faso represented Sullivan and CD 19 before losing to Delgado in 2018.
The state's highest court sent the matter back to McAllister's courtroom to resolve the highly partisan dispute, which led to today's final maps.
"It's good to have the maps settled so that the campaign season can begin in earnest," said Anne Hart, chair of the Sullivan County Democratic Committee. "It's an important year and we want to do our part to keep Democrats in office up and down the ballot.
Moments after the maps were released, some politicians issued statements of intentions to run in certain campaigns, including Mondaire Jones, the Democrat Congressman from Rockland County who might have have represented Sullivan had the Dems not lost the legal battle. (Sullivan was initially placed in Congressional District 17 before being put back into a revamped CD 19 by Cervas). Jones is now running in CD 10 in New York City and will be in a primary that includes former NYC Mayor Bill
The case that led to the final maps is Harkenrider vs Hochul, filed in early February.
Map of final Congressional Districts in New York State.
Map of final State Senate Districts in New York State