Gerrymandering

This is second of a series of “special messages” on my plans as Mayor.

Gerrymandering inflicts “grievous harm to democratic governance” and is a “flagrant infringement on individuals’ rights.”

— Justice Elena Kagan, U.S. Supreme Court, Rucho v. Common Cause

The nefarious practice of political “gerrymandering” is a “tactic of manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair advantage.” It is a scheme to protect incumbents by “drawing” challengers outside the incumbent’s district.

The fight against gerrymandering was championed by legendary civil rights leader Shirley Chisholm, who ran for and won a seat for Congress in 1969, representing a newly-created voting district covering Bedford-Stuyvesant. This was only possible because of a lawsuit filed by Andrew W. Cooper, a pioneering African American activist, businessman and journalist. This fight is the stuff of legends.

New York legislators have callously turned their backs on Chisholm’s and Cooper’s legacies by engaging in flagrant political gerrymandering. After the last re-districting, the crooked maps drawn by the legislature were all thrown out, one based on a case I brought.

When I am Mayor, this corrupt practice will end within the boundaries of the City of New York. I will go to Albany to make the case against the practice. If that effort fails, I will present a bill to the Speaker of the City Council that casts the practice of political gerrymandering in its true form: a criminal conspiracy to deprive voters of the franchise. Together, we will relegate gerrymandering in this City to the dustbin of history, where it belongs.

This is my promise. You have it in writing. Hold me accountable.

Other candidates should commit to this policy. If they refuse, hold them to account.

Jim Walden,

Candidate for Mayor