Rep. Towns Prepares for Congressional Redistricting

Congressional districts are re-drawn every decade following a Census to reflect population shifts across each state.

And even though New York State's population grew 2.1 percent in the past 10 years, bigger population increases in the southern and the western parts of the United States has meant the New York delegation will shrink overall by two seats, from 29 to 27.

Congressman Ed Towns of the 10th District, representing Bedford-Stuyvesant, says he is waiting like every one else to see the outcome of how the new lines will be drawn.

Towns's district has a small layer of cover in the form of a voting rights district, one of five districts which the Department of Justice says must have a majority of minority residents. 

Other voting rights districts in New York City include those represented by Yvette Clark and Nydia Velazquez in Brooklyn, Charlie Rangel in Manhattan, and Jose Serrano in the Bronx.

Meanwhile, many other congressional members already are meeting privately to broker deals that they hope will protect their district from being affected. But the decision will not be theirs: It is the State Senate and Assembly that decide how district lines are drawn.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is heading a non-partisan civic coalition that is pushing to lead the redistricting process. However, historically, Albany has driven the process on its own.

Democrats are hoping that their majority in the State Assembly will protect their interests, while Republicans are looking for their majority in the State Senate to provide them cover.

However, upstate districts most likely will take the hit in the redistricting, as cities such as Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse went down in population.

The even number of upcoming losses will mean Albany politicians probably will choose one Democratic and one Republican freshman member of Congress.

"The battles within parties are always more fierce than those between the parties," said redistricting attorney Richard Emery.

Still, Towns says, as a result of redistricting, every district in NY State will be affected in some way. At this point he does not know exactly how the 10th District will be affected, but he believes it will.