NEW YORK — Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., admitted mishandling the redistricting civil war that effectively forced fellow Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones out of his suburban district.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee leader admitted offending many in his party by big-footing Jones, a popular progressive rising star.
“I know there are a lot of strong feelings about it and I think I could’ve handled it better,” Maloney said in an interview with News12 Westchester.
He accurately boasted that in the end “we avoided a member-on-member primary.”
But Maloney still faces a primary challenge from progressive state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, D-Bronx, who secured endorsements from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and the Working Families Party.
Jones had to move to another part of the metro New York City area to run in a newly created district spanning lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.
“It was going to be a difficult decision either way,” Maloney said. “I decided to run where I live.”
The lawmaker raised hackles when a court-appointed special master redrew district maps, creating two options for Maloney: a new NY-18 that shifted his district slightly upstate and another, NY-17, that encompassed most of the district that Jones now represents.
Many Democrats hoped Maloney would run in NY-18 and clear the path for Jones in NY-17, a move that arguably would’ve given the party its best chance of holding both seats.
Instead, Maloney blindsided Jones and progressives by announcing he would run in NY-17, which is somewhat more Democratic than the other one. That gives Republicans a fighting chance to pick off NY-18.
Facing an ugly choice, Jones decided to move into lower Manhattan to compete in the crowded race for the new NY-10 district.
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