New Yorkers Hit the Polls Aug. 23 for ‘Primary Part 2’

From Buffalo’s suburbs on Lake Erie to the eastern tip of Long Island, New Yorkers are casting ballots on Aug. 23 in primaries for 63 state senate and 26 U.S. House seats.

It is the second round of inner-party preliminary elections to set slates for November general elections in New York, where proposed state senate and congressional district maps had to be redrawn under court order by a special master.

Unlike many of the preceding primaries across 42 states, New York’s Aug. 23 primaries are not expected to spur large turnouts. Late August is when many take late-summer vacations before schools reopen in early September.

Going into the 2020 Census, New York had 27 congressional seats with 18 occupied by Democrats. 

But the state lost its 27th congressional seat in post-Census reapportionment and the 26-district map adopted by the state’s Democrat-controlled General Assembly was rejected as gerrymandering in court rulings. 

The maps crafted by a special master now provide Republicans with a legitimate shot at winning up to 13 seats, retired SUNY New Paltz political science professor Gerald Benjamin told The Epoch Times on Aug. 17.

Because the maps weren’t approved until May, New York’s 2022 primaries were split. Party contests for statewide positions, such as governor, were staged June 28 with congressional and state senate primaries set for Aug. 23.

To further compound the complexity of what are normally sleepy, low-turnout summer primaries, New York’s Aug. 23 ballot in two congressional districts will also feature special elections to fill vacant U.S. House seats.

Republican New York Congressional District 23 candidate Carl Paladino speaks in Hicksville, N.Y., during his 2010 gubernatorial campaign. (Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images) Special Elections

Special elections in Congressional District 19 (CD 19) and CD 23 are among prominent races on New York’s Aug. 23 ballot, with one