| | | | |  | | By Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Deanna Garcia | | | A new set of draft district maps have thrown New York politics for a loop, radically reshaping longstanding congressional districts, hurting Democrats' hopes in the House and pitting incumbents against each other. As of this writing, it seems like half the state is *maybe* running for Congress in one district or another and it can be tough to keep track, but lets take a look at a few key takeaways: The new maps, proposed by a court-appointed special master after the Legislature's plan was thrown out as an unconstitutional gerrymander, are a lot less favorable to the Democrats. Several of the seats are tossups, making it impossible to say which party will prevail — a huge shift from the previous plan, which looked likely to let Democrats pick up three more congressional seats. The special master made a point of creating more competitive seats: He estimates there will be eight districts where either party has a shot, compared to three under the Democrats' plan. To take one prominent example, a move to boost Democrats by adding Park Slope to a Staten Island district is erased in the new maps, giving Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis an edge in a likely rematch with ex-Rep. Max Rose. It's not just the balance between parties that's changing. The proposed districts create a free-for-all between incumbents and hopefuls by slicing and dicing existing districts across the state. One blockbuster primary that could result: Rep. Carolyn Maloney vs. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who both announced they plan to run in the newly drawn 12th District, which would cover both Maloney's east side and Nadler's west side of Manhattan, assuming the new borders stick. While not all candidates have announced their plans (and you don't technically have to live in a district to run there), there will be five districts that contain the homes of multiple incumbents. In Brooklyn, Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries and Yvette Clarke both live in a new CD-09. Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones would now share a southern Westchester seat. Got all that? Well good, because things could still change again. After taking public comments, the special master will release his work and the judge will approve final maps by Friday. IT'S TUESDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: EDurkin@politico.com and agronewold@politico.com, or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold WHERE'S KATHY? Meeting President Joe Biden at the Buffalo airport and later for a joint appearance at the Delavan Grider Community Center. WHERE'S ERIC? Meeting with State Assemblymember Benedetto, New York Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus, state Sens. John Liu and Shelley Mayer in Albany, holding a joining meeting with members of the state Senate and Assembly, holding a Q-and-A at the State Capitol, hosting Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration in Gracie Mansion and delivering remarks at the Jewish Children's Museum Gala in Brooklyn.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: Did you know more than half of every dollar spent on medicines goes to someone who doesn't make them? There's a long line of middlemen, like PBMs and insurers, collecting a significant portion of what you pay for medicine. The share of total spending for brand medicines received by the supply chain and other stakeholders increased from 33% in 2013 to 50.5% in 2020. Learn more. | | | |  | What City Hall's reading | | Adams' top aide navigates uncharted path on New York ethics issues, by POLITICO's Sally Goldenberg and Joe Anuta: When a high-profile New York developer needed a lawyer to settle a dispute over a commercial skyscraper last fall, he called Frank Carone — a partner at the sprawling firm Abrams Fensterman in Downtown Brooklyn. Carone took on the case, arguing in a November filing that the developer, Fortis Property Group, was entitled to maintain ownership of the 36-story tower amid the objections of a lender. Now Carone is chief of staff to Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, and Fortis is pursuing a luxury condo project near the Brooklyn waterfront that will require city permits and oversight. A recent public disclosure shows the company has been actively lobbying the new mayoral administration. That potential conflict of interest is one of many facing the attorney as he undertakes an expansive role in City Hall. A POLITICO analysis of Abrams Fensterman's clients from last year — compiled through court records and news articles — found more than 40 whose financial interests are intertwined with municipal government. New York City prepares for high rates of Covid transmission with indoor masking recommendation , by POLITICO's Amanda Eisenberg: The Adams administration announced Monday that New York City is expecting to reach a "high risk" of Covid-19 transmission as hospitalizations rise and "strongly recommends" New Yorkers wear masks indoors. The color-coded system, enacted by Mayor Eric Adams, was created with the intention to easily communicate to New Yorkers about the safety precautions they should take as Covid waves ebb and flow. Yet, the administration rolled back larger protections to stop the spread of Covid, such as mask mandates for students and vaccine checks for indoor venues and restaurants. The city has been in a "medium risk" level for the past few weeks, dictated by the rate of new cases per borough. "Streets Get More Dangerous When Speed Cameras Are Off, Stats Show," by The City's Suhail Bhat and Jose Martinez: "As Albany lawmakers decide whether to extend or expand New York City's speed enforcement camera program, NYPD records show crashes citywide have become less likely during the limited hours the cameras are turned on, and more likely when they're shut off. The current speed camera law, which expires June 30, allows cameras at 750 locations near schools to operate strictly between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on weekdays. So far this year, overnight and weekend vehicle collisions accounted for about 41% of all crashes, compared to 33% in the months before the state expanded the number of camera locations from 140 in mid-2019, an analysis by THE CITY of 1.8 million NYPD records finds." "Adams heads to Albany to press NY priorities — but leaders may be in Buffalo," by New York Post's Bernadette Hogan: "Mayor Eric Adams is traveling to Albany Tuesday to lobby key Democratic lawmakers on his end of session priorities such as extending mayoral control of the city's public schools. 'On the number of meetings, the team is still putting that together to make sure we speak with as many of my former colleagues and new colleagues as possible,' Adams told reporters Monday afternoon when asked who he's scheduled to meet with." VIGIL FOR BUFFALO IN NYC — Mayor Eric Adams held a vigil Monday night for the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting where a white 18-year-old shot and killed 10 people in a supermarket. Adams arrived after visiting the 11-year-old girl who was shot in the Bronx, who he revealed had died. "We must deal with this terrorist act that happened in Buffalo that took 10 innocent people merely because of their ethnicity. Merely because of who they were," Adams said at Harlem's Bethel Gospel Assembly. He added that it's important to be consistent because if someone takes the life of an individual just because of where they live, "you're no more or less demonic than a person that took the life of those 10 innocent people in Buffalo." Attorney General Tish James, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and religious leaders joined Adams at the Harlem church to share their feelings on the recent attack. Williams called out New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the New York Post during his speech and accused them of fueling white nationalist philosophies, which allegedly motivated the Buffalo shooter. "You are now in the annals of history of Nazi Germany," Williams said. "That's where history will remember you." — Deanna Garcia
| | WHAT ALBANY'S READING | | Buffalo shooting puts Hochul at center of new gun debate in New York, by POLITICO's Anna Gronewold and Joseph Spector: New York was already staring down a charged debate over soaring crime and how to address it. Then came the year's deadliest mass shooting. The deaths of 10 people Saturday at the hands of a racist man at a Buffalo supermarket thrust New York leaders and Gov. Kathy Hochul into new negotiations over how to toughen gun laws in a state with some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. The shooting's impact was apparent in the halls of the state Capitol on Monday as lawmakers with tears in their eyes pledged to enact new regulations with fewer than three weeks before the legislative session ends and six weeks before the state's Democratic primary. "This was what caused the death of many people over the weekend: simply wearing the skin they are in," state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said at the Capitol. At the center is Hochul, a Buffalo native who faces a Democratic primary on June 28, nine months after taking office. — "The white gunman accused of massacring 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket wrote as far back as November about staging a livestreamed attack on African Americans, practiced shooting from his car and traveled hours from his home in March to scout out the store, according to detailed diary entries he appears to have posted online." Trom The Associated Press — "The Erie County District Attorney's Office and federal prosecutors each will have the chance to prosecute the man accused of slaying 10 people and wounding three others in Saturday's hate-inspired attack in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo. But there is no definitive answer yet on precisely what that process will look like." from The Buffalo News — "New York's red flag law should have helped thwart the Buffalo mass shooting. What went wrong?" from NBC News — "We need a national response to this," Hochul, a Buffalo-born Democrat, added. "Otherwise, we are just vulnerable to the laws in other states." From New York Daily News — The Saturday attack has led to Gov. Kathy Hochul and other New York Democrats to call for additional restrictions and tightening up of loopholes in current law before the legislative session ends on June 2, but they have yet to offer specifics. From POLITICO New York — "Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer blamed the spreading of the 'replacement' theory on conservative media pundits and Trump-style Republican rhetoric on immigration. 'These views should have no place in American society and certainly no place in the segments of our most-watched news channels,' said Schumer, who called for rooting out of hatred and legislation to address gun violence." From Reuters New draft state Senate maps would create 8 pairs of incumbents against each other , by POLITICO's Bill Mahoney: State Senate Democrats avoided a complete disaster from new draft lines released by a court late Monday afternoon, but the plan would create headaches for the party in several parts of the state. The new plans would leave Democrats — who currently hold 43 of the 63 Senate seats — the clear favorites in a comfortable majority of the state's districts. But they could also lead to eight primary or general elections that pit pairs of incumbents against each other, and only two of these pairings appears to be advantageous to Democrats. #UpstateAmerica: The Tops supermarket where the shooting occurred was the sole oasis in a food desert, so the community is uniting to feed the neighborhood while the store remains closed.
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   | | | | | FROM THE DELEGATION | | "Racist Attack Spotlights Stefanik's Echo of Replacement Theory," by The New York Times' Annie Karni: "Ms. Stefanik, a onetime moderate Republican who worked in President George W. Bush's White House and was a protégé of former Speaker Paul D. Ryan, has long been seen as a rising star in her party, and she still is. But as she has ascended, the Republican Party has transformed, lurching to the right along with her district in upstate New York, and she has shape-shifted along with it. Now, she proudly describes herself as an 'ultra MAGA' warrior and aggressively appeals to the hard right, sounding nativist themes that animate the Republican base."
| | Biden and the Boroughs | | "Could Death Penalty Shift Spare Man Charged in Bike Path Terror Attack?" by The New York Times' Benjamin Weiser: "Shortly after Sayfullo Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, was arrested on suspicion of using a truck to kill eight people on a Manhattan bike path in 2017, President Donald J. Trump declared on Twitter, 'SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY.' Ultimately, Jeff Sessions, his attorney general, authorized federal prosecutors to seek capital punishment should Mr. Saipov be convicted. But with Mr. Saipov's trial looming this fall, his lawyers have asked Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, appointed by President Biden, to withdraw the death penalty authorization, which would mean life imprisonment for Mr. Saipov if he were found guilty. Mr. Garland has not signaled how he might decide. But the request comes at a time when lawyers representing federal capital defendants appear to have reason for hope: Since he took office, Mr. Garland, without fanfare, publicly withdrew government death-penalty requests in cases involving 16 defendants from around the country, according to the Justice Department and federal court records."
| | AROUND NEW YORK | | — A mother was charged with murder after her 9-year-old daughter was found dead in her Brooklyn home with cuts and bruises to her head and bite marks on her back. — The city is amending plans to oust local school superintendents after protests from parents. — An 11-year-old girl was shot to death in the Bronx. — Asian communities are hoping to increase their political power in the City Council redistricting process. — The MTA's new subway stairs in Times Square cost it $30 million. — New Jersey's representative on the Waterfront Commission abruptly resigned from his post. — The co-founder of a secretive Wall Street firm, Michael A. Jenkins, is spending big to influence several NYC Assembly elections. — Gas prices have reached record highs in New York, but there are ways to save. — Adams announced a $2 million plan with CUNY to establish a bachelor's degree in digital game design. — New York lawmakers are considering a bill to hit "ghost guns" dealers and manufacturers with a civil suit.
| | SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo … NYT's Mike Shear and Reid Epstein … NBC's Kelly O'Donnell … Bloomberg's Jeremy Lin … Maria Abi-Habib … Dolly Moorhead … Microsoft's Rebecca Nelson Kay … Robert Petito … Akela Lacy MAKING MOVES — Allyson Marcus will be the campaign manager for Lt. Gov-designate Antonio Delgado. She managed Delgado's 2018 congressional campaign and has been political director for northeastern congressional races at the DCCC and political director at American Bridge. Madia Coleman will be the campaign's communications director. She was deputy communications director for Hochul. … Angela Krasnick has joined the White House as director of platforms in the office of digital strategy. She most recently was content curator at Instagram and is also a BuzzFeed alum. … … Ronald A. Brereton will be deputy commissioner of security operations at the city Department of Correction. He is a veteran of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. … Zachary Schneider is now a product marketing manager at Coinbase. He most recently was founding product marketing manager at Novi. MEDIAWATCH — Keith Gessen and E. Tammy Kim have been named contributing writers to The New Yorker. Additionally, Jessica Winter , who has served as an executive editor of newyorker.com since 2017, will be moving into a contributing editor role where she will split her time between writing and editing. Per Talking Biz News: "Rolling Stone has appointed Jodi Guglielmi breaking news editor. She joins from People magazine, where she has worked for seven years, most recently, as a staff editor." … Emily Nelson has been named the new editor of the Exchange section of the Wall Street Journal. … POLITICO's Robin Turner has been hired as the VP of training, culture and community at the Wall Street Journal.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: Did you know that PBMs, insurers, hospitals, the government, and others received a larger share of total spending on medicines than biopharmaceutical companies? That's right, more than half of spending on brand medicines goes to someone who doesn't make them. Let's fix the system the right way and ensure more of the savings go to patients, not middlemen. Learn more. | | | | | Real Estate | | "Macquarie Signs First Lease at Fifth Avenue Office Tower Undergoing $400 Million Redevelopment," by Wall Street Journal's Peter Grant: "Australian financial-services company Macquarie Group signed the first lease at a new Midtown Manhattan redevelopment of the office tower that gained global attention during the Trump administration because it was owned at the time by the family of senior Trump aide Jared Kushner. The 39-story building, which has changed its name from 666 Fifth Ave. to 660 Fifth Ave., is being overhauled in a $400 million redevelopment by Brookfield Asset Management which purchased a long-term lease of the property from the Kushners in 2018." " In Battery Park City, Another Plan to Destroy a Green Space In Order to Save It," by The City's Samantha Maldonado: "A resiliency project in Lower Manhattan aims to provide flood protection in part by giving an iconic park a facelift — emphasis on lift. The Battery Park City Authority's plan to guard the neighborhood from flooding and future storm surges will take shape this summer, when Wagner Park closes to the public and a two-year construction period begins to raise the green space over 10 feet higher than it is now." | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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