From Politico

“There are no givens. Anything can happen” in redistricting, said former Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who played a major role in his home state’s 2002 redistricting and now chairs REDMAP, the Republican State Leadership Committee’s Redistricting Majority Project.

REDMAP hopes to spend $20 million this fall in state legislative races to try to secure GOP majorities in battleground states — which would allow Republicans to draw congressional districts and could affect seats in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas depending partly on the outcome of this year’s congressional elections. The New York Senate, which Democrats now control 32 to 30, is a prime Reynolds target — with several seats in play that are currently held by each party.
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Although the redistricting impact is unpredictable, it’s noteworthy that the New York Senate’s top two Democratic leaders — Malcolm Smith and John Sampson — are African-Americans. “A Republican Senate would be very different,” said Reynolds, and it might be more solicitous of Hispanic interests in Rangel’s district and elsewhere.

Although Republican voters will have little say in the outcome of districts like those of Rangel and Waters — which are heavily Democratic — redistricting in one part of a state can affect the map-drawing in another part. “We tell our members to get to know your state legislators because they are the ones who control redistricting,” said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), vice chairman of redistricting for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

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