When we go to the polls 2 years from now to vote for our House Representative --- there is the distinct possibility for some "interesting" congressional contests.
New York stands to lose 2 House seats -- 646,952 will be the population average for the new district lines that will be drawn in 2011.
If we start with the current 21st District which includes all of Albany, Schenectady, Montgomery and Schoharie counties -- and parts of Fulton and Rensselaer counties .... that district will have to expand in geographic area .... either north, south, east, or west or some combination of the four directions---
The district that will change the most is probably the 20th which goes from goes from Essex county up north through Warren, Saratoga, Washington, Rensselaer and Columbia counties to Dutchess county in south ---- then it goes west through Greene and Delaware counties to Otsego county in the west.
The 19th and 22nd CDs to the south, the 24th to the west, and the 23rd to the north all have Democratic incumbents .. as of today .. as do the 21st and 20th
Depending on the outcome of the 2010 elections -- IF all 5 Democratic incumbents are reelected .. there is almost 100% likelihood that 2 of the incumbents would end up in the same Congressional District after the lines are redrawn for the 2012 elections.
If Gibson wins the 20th and the other 4 Dems retain their seats... which of the Democrats will the New York State legislature pit Mr. Gibson against. Since Gibson lives in Columbia county -- one can envision Columbia county being redistricted into either the current 21st, current 19th, or the current 22nd.
There are many more potential scenarios --- at the moment Tonko (21st) and Hinchey (22nd) are almost guaranteed reelection --- and Owen (23rd), Acuri (24th), Hall (19th) and Murphy 20th are all very tight races with the GOP having a good shot at winning at least 2 of the 4 seats.
So .. long story short ... the results of the 2010 election will likely have a great influence on HOW the new district lines are drawn next year -- and the new lines could set upsome interesting Congressional races in 2012.
PS -- all of this makes who controls the NYS Assembly and NYS Senate after tomorrow even MORE important |