Exclusive: Elise Stefanik Slams Democrats for Enabling Unconstitutional Gerrymandering

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., questions former White House national security aide Fiona Hil
Andrew Harrer/Pool Photo via AP

Republican Conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) slammed New York Assembly Democrats for designing a gerrymandered map that was struck down as unconstitutional on Thursday.

“The decision rendered by Judge Patrick McAllister is a win for all New Yorkers and confirms what we have been saying all along: New York Democrats drew gerrymandered congressional lines to protect themselves and hurt all New Yorkers, specifically the North Country,” Stefanik exclusively told Breitbart News about the GOP’s successful legal victory.

The success may cost Democrats three to four seats in the U.S. Congress. A lower New York court threw out the state’s newly drawn Democrat-designed gerrymandered map because it violated the state’s constitutional redistricting process. The huge ruling for Republicans will be appealed to the Court of Appeals, the state’s top court.

If the ruling is upheld on appeal, New York state lawmakers may pass the June primary deadline for the creation of a second map. The judge ordered state legislators to draw new maps with bipartisan support by April 11.

The gerrymandered map was originally designed in January with the aid of 15 Assembly Republicans who legitimized the redistricting process the court found unconstitutional. The 15 Assembly Republicans have been criticized for enabling the map in return for protection from being gerrymandered out of the state legislature.

“Albany Democrats violated the New York State Constitution and drew egregious, unfair, and unconstitutional lines to benefit Democrat elected officials,” Stefanik said of the gerrymandered process.

President of the New York Young Republican Club Gavin Wax told Breitbart News on Friday there “was no excuse” for the 15 Republicans to enable the Democrat map. “That fact that a court in deep blue New York ruled that these maps were unconstitutional and illegal show how out of touch the 15 Assembly Republicans who voted for the state maps were,” Wax said.

Nationwide, Republicans have struggled to amount redistricting wins. Senior editor of The Cook Political Report David Wasserman has noted that Democrats are dominating the redistricting battle that Republicans were expected to handily win. But Republicans have turned soft in many states, such as MissouriKansasNew YorkAlabama, Pennsylvania, and other states that have gone to court and lost against the Democrat redistricting machine.

With the Democrat’s redistricting machine powered by former President Barack Obama’s one-time attorney general, Eric Holder, the establishment media have even taken notice of how “weirdly well” Democrats are performing in their redistricting efforts.

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks during an interview at the Washington Post on February 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. During an interview with Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart, Holder discussed Special Counsel Robert Muller's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, as well as his efforts to reform what he calls the "biggest rigged system in America" through a national redistricting effort. (Photo by Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Images)

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (Photo by Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Images)

“[A]ccording to at least one analyst, there is actually an outside chance that the final map will be tilted, ever so slightly, in the Democrats’ favor,” the New York Magazine reported in December.

Meanwhile, the GOP’s National Republican Redistricting Trust, which had been led by Karl Rove and Chris Christie, has been criticized for its inability to stop the Democrat machine.

“If Christie was half as focused on redistricting as he’s been on his future failing presidential campaign or the box of Twinkies he jams in his face each morning, then maybe Republicans would be in better shape today,” Donald Trump Jr. said of Christie’s failures.

A national Republican strategist told Breitbart News that “Karl Rove has been asleep at the wheel throughout the redistricting process.”

“It’s clear Karl Rove has lost a step, and it’s costing Republicans all over the country,” a second GOP strategist added.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø.

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