Despite the rejection of Democratic-drawn state Senate districts by the courts and accusations of racial discrimination in the newly drawn lines, deputy state Senate Majority Leader Michael Gianaris is confident Democrats will benefit from the maps drawn by a special master.
"We are currently living under grossly gerrymandered lines that the Republicans drew 10 years ago," Gianaris told Errol Louis on "Inside City Hall" Tuesday. "We have achieved a supermajority under Republican-drawn lines so anything that moves us in the direction of fairness - which I think the lines proposed yesterday are certainly better than the lines we're living under currently - will yield those kind of results."
The last redistricting process, as part of a deal between a Republican-controlled state Senate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, assigned more districts to upstate regions and established an independent commission, equally divided between the parties, to draw new districts every ten years.
Gianaris voted against the bill at the time. When the commission couldn't arrive at an agreement on congressional and state legislative lines earlier this year, Democrats took over the process until a court ruled they didn't have the authority.
"What we said at the time was this was designed to fail. It was set up to be equally divided between representatives of the two parties, so of course what we predicted came to fruition: they were deadlocked," Gianaris said.
"Our option at that point was to step forward and try to fill that void," Gianaris added. "The courts ultimately decided that we weren't empowered to even do that."
The special master's proposed maps, set to be finalized Friday, have been accused by top Democrats of disregarding so-called "communities of interest." Rep. Hakeem Jeffries accused the special master of divvying up Black communities in New York City.
"He certainly was supposed to" take communities of interest under consideration under new laws, Gianaris said. Democrats are making their case in court, but the Queens state Senator also said "the court has chosen to take over the process. That's what we're dealing with right now. And we'll all live under the lines that are approved."
Gianaris also discussed Mayor Eric Adams' Tuesday trip to Albany and spoke optimistically of the mayor's priorities, including extending mayoral control of schools and giving the city jurisdiction over its own speed cameras. That the mayor hadn't spent much time in Albany was not an issue to the deputy majority leader.
"I don't put too much stake in whether he's physically here or not," Gianaris said. "We talk to him and his administration on a regular basis."