Redistricting pushes Jacobs out of Orleans, which will have 2 representatives
Map from NYS Legislative Task Force On Demographic Research And Reapportionment – Orleans County will be split into two different congressional districts, with the 25th district stretching from Rochester to part of Orleans, and the sprawling 24th district that has some of Orleans and Niagara counties, and goes all the way through the Finger Lakes to Oswego and Jefferson County. The 25th is Democrat leaning while the 24th is solidly Republican.
Orleans County will no longer be represented in Congress by Chris Jacobs after this year.
Chris Jacobs
New redistricting maps (click here) have been finalized and Jacobs, if he is elected in November, would be in the 23rd Congressional District that is dominated by Erie County and also includes Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties.
Some of Orleans – the northern towns and some more – will be in the 25th Congressional District that includes the City of Rochester and Monroe County. Joe Morelle, a Democrat from Irondequoit, currently represents the Rochester area in Congress.
The other part of Orleans will be in a sprawling district that goes from Niagara and stretches through the other GLOW counties, the Finger Lakes and up to Oswego and Jefferson counties.
Claudia Tenney, the current representative for the 22nd Congressional District that includes Utica, has announced plans to run for the 24th district.
“We’re going to miss Jacobs,” said Skip Draper, Orleans County legislator and Republican Party chairman. “He represented us well.”
Joe Morelle
Draper said having the county split into two different districts has benefits and disadvantages.
“My concern with being paired with an urban area that has all the population is that is where all the attention will go,” Draper said. “I hope that is not the case. They need to understand we’re part of the district and Orleans County is important, too.”
He was concerned a decade ago when the county was no longer fully in one Assembly District. Shelby was in one district and the other nine towns in a different one. Mike Norris had Shelby and parts of Niagara and Erie counties, while Steve Hawley had the majority of Orleans, Genesee and part of Monroe County.
“Having two assemblymen represent us has worked out,” Draper said. “I don’t know it’s necessarily a bad thing to have two congressional reps.”
He is disappointed all of the county isn’t in the same district with other similar-size rural counties in the GLOW – Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming.
Claudia Tenney
“I’d like to be in the GLOW because that’s where all the partnerships are,” Draper said. “But we don’t have a lot to say about it. Whoever is in the seat we will work with them.”
With the split county, the 25th Congressional District would include the Orleans towns of Yates, Carlton, Kendall, Gaines and Murray and about a third of Clarendon. The other towns – Ridgeway, Shelby, Albion, Barre and two-thirds of Clarendon – would be in the 24th.
Tenney has been quick to launch a campaign for the 24th District, releasing a news release with endorsements from several of the Republican Party leaders in the district.
“After reviewing the revised maps, which were released in the dead of night, I am announcing my candidacy for New York’s 24th Congressional District,” she said in a news release. “As drawn, the 24th District includes areas I currently represent in Congress such as Oswego County.”
This shows the boundaries for how Orleans County will be split into different congressional districts.
