CJS Decision 2024

Redistricting after the 2020 election cycle resulted in Southwest Brooklyn’s Sunset Park and Bensonhurst neighborhoods, cultural enclaves of Chinese immigrants, dealing with new representation.

What started as State Senate District 22 ended becoming District 17 in May of 2022 after a special master, Jonathan Cervas, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, was appointed by the New York State Supreme Court in April 2022. The new district became the first Asian majority district in the borough.

Six months after the new district was formed, District 17 made history by electing Iwen Chu as the first Asian American woman to the New York State Senate.

This year, in Chu’s bid for re-election, she faces another Asian American candidate, Steve Chan.

District 17 is one of the many places that are home to the fastest-growing racial group in New York State over the last ten years. The number of eligible Asian American voters in New York is second only to California – 1.2 million Asian Americans in New York are projected to be eligible to vote in the upcoming election. As a result, some members of the community feel it is important to reflect the voices of this rapidly growing racial group.

The 44 percent Asian district reflects the population living in the western part of Kings County, which includes Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Gravesend, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, Kensington, and Bensonhurst.

The U.S. Constitution requires redistricting every ten years, based on the decennial Census population data. In 2014, the New York State Legislature and then-governor Andrew Cuomo implemented redistricting reforms, voting for a constitutional amendment to create the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC). The bipartisan commission rejected plans to create a more fair and transparent process. The New York State Court of Appeals repealed the IRC-drawn congressional and State Senate maps, and then appointed Cervas as Special Master to redraw the districts.

Previously, some Asian communities, like Bensonhurst, were split into multiple districts. The Chinese community in Sunset Park was combined with the Hispanic community, making the Asian community in the Sunset Park neighborhood the minority.

The redistricting involved navigating the United States Constitution and the New York State Constitution, which includes what Cervas said is strict rules on the redrawing of the maps.

“It was the most difficult redistricting project I’ve ever undertaken,” said Cervas, who has done multiple map projects.

His team of scholars had less than one month to complete the new district map. Stakeholders, including Elizabeth OuYang, the head of Asian Pacific Americans Voting and Organizing to Increase Civic Engagement (APA Voice), welcomed the new district.

“I got emotional,” Cervas said, his voice wavering for a second while recounting his experience from two years ago. “I rarely get feedback on my redistricting projects. But Liz [OuYang] and the APA Voice told me that they had some really specific things that were reflected in my map.”

Elizabeth OuYang agreed with the statement, offering a smile as she talked about her experience working with the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn and Chinese-American Planning Council for the consolidation of the Asian communities in South Brooklyn.

“We definitely felt that there could be the first ever majority district here,” she said. “I told [Cervas] that they share many things in common with history, language and transportation lines, so that they should be grouped together.”

The New York State Constitution requires holding public hearings to get community input.

“I know a lot about redistricting and law but citizens know about communities,” Cervas said. “It’s more ideal if there’s some safe process that allows citizens to do this independently.”

Jeffrey Wice, a professor who specializes in redistricting at New York Law School, said the fierce competition between the incumbent Senator Chu and her opponent, Steve Chan, also an Asian candidate, reflected the interests of the Asian communities in Sunset Park and Bensonhurst.

“This is a relatively new phenomenon,” Wice said. “The Asian population is really exploding.”

Community organizations have been integral to the process. Leaders of the New York Immigration Coalition Action, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, said it works for fair representation in redistricting processes and aims to amplify the voices of immigrants. They are working with multiple Asian American organizations, such as the Asian American Federation, the Chinese-American Planning Council and the Academy of Medical & Public Health Services.

Asher Ross, senior strategist at New York Immigration Coalition Action, said Cervas’ map achieved fair political representation for the Chinese American community in Sunset Park and Bensonhurst.

Ross defined fair representation as voters being able to elect someone from their own community, who looks like them and is able to understand and address their concerns on critical issues.

Community organizers said this is not possible if communities are split up and fragmented in the name of redistricting, where minority votes are diluted.

“It was evident through the fact that not only had there never been any Asian Americans elected for any level of government,” Ross said. “They didn’t even run candidates who were Asians. (They) were very pleased with the outcome of this map.”

The Center for Urban Research at City University of New York is working with community leaders to translate redistricting into more accessible, comprehensible visual tools. Steven Romalewski, director of CUNY Mapping Service, relies on as much public participation as possible during the redistricting processes. His work includes the Redistricting and You project, a comprehensive interactive map.

“Regardless of who is drawing the lines, the public’s voices still need to be heard,” said Romalewski. “We decided to put ‘you’ [in the name] because we are mindful of the public. We want to break it down and make it accessible for everyone.”