Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) bowed out of a primary battle against Democrat Campaign Chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) to run in New York’s Tenth Congressional District after Maloney announced he would run in Jones’ current district when a map of new congressional lines was released.
A state court released the Empire State’s new official congressional maps, which were similar to the draft released early in the week, forcing incumbents to pick and choose whether they would run in the same district or run against a colleague.
Following the release of the draft of the maps, Maloney, without any notice to colleagues, announced he would run in New York Seventeenth Congressional District, the one in which Jones is currently the incumbent, instead of his own Eighteenth Congressional District, leaving Jones to go through a tough primary battle against Maloney or run in a different district.
Late Friday evening, after the maps were released, Jones let off a string of tweets announcing he would run in New York’s Tenth Congressional District and blamed the final congressional lines on “partisan politics,” saying the maps were “drawn by an out-of-state, Republican court appointee who has shown utter disregard for cultural, social, and economic communities of interest.”
He added:
The final maps released today are the result of partisan politics–drawn by an out-of-state, Republican court appointee who has shown utter disregard for cultural, social, and economic communities of interest. It is designed to reduce the number of NY Democrats in Congress.
I have decided to run for another term in Congress in #NY10. This is the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Since long before the Stonewall Uprising, queer people of color have sought refuge within its borders.
I’m excited to make my case for why I’m the right person to lead this district forward and to continue my work in Congress to save our democracy from the threats of the far right. In my first term in Congress, I have worked hard to deliver real results for New York State.
Jones’ decision means he will be running in a district he does not currently live in and will run against former New York mayor and failed 2020 presidential nominee Bill de Blasio.
De Blasio announced on MSNBC that he would run for the seat, which he claims would be a “homecoming,” since it is his old Council district that he held for eight years when he was a local lawmaker. The former mayor’s Friday announcement came hours before the new congressional maps were officially revealed.
The state’s primary date is on August 23.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.