New York City’s Sole GOP House Seat Challenged By Lawsuit

A congressional district held by New York City’s only Republican representative is impermissibly drawn to shut out Black and Latino voters, a group of New Yorkers claim in a lawsuit.

“The white majority on Staten Island overwhelmingly supports the same candidates and votes as a bloc to usually defeat Black and Latino voters’ candidates of choice,” according to the complaint, filed Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The lawsuit against the New York State Board of Elections and top state officials is the latest salvo in a national gerrymandering battle. Democrats in New York and California have pushed proposals to redraw congressional districts in response to Republican-led states’ adoption of redistricting plans, backed by President Donald Trump, ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The complaint filed Monday says the New York’s 11th congressional district violates the state’s Constitution by diluting the votes of the area’s racial minorities.

The district’s current representative, Republican Nicole Malliotakis, “is decidedly not Black and Latino voters’ candidate of choice and has never been their candidate of choice,” the complaint says. “Despite Black and Latino voters now constituting nearly a quarter of the citizen voting age population of CD-11, they are not able to influence elections or elect their candidate of choice.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed the current congressional map into law last year.

The suit asks the court to scrap the state’s current congressional map and order it redrawn so Malliotakis’ district includes voters in lower Manhattan “to create a minority influence district in CD-11.”

Malliotakis, in a statement, said it’s “a frivolous lawsuit trying to upend our congressional district” and noted the current map was approved by New York’s Democrat-controlled state legislature and Democratic governor. She called it “a terrible abuse of the legal process” intended to “tilt the scale” to give Democrats a midterm advantage.

The board of elections didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Elias Law Group and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Williams v. Board, N.Y. Sup. Ct., 10/27/25.