Democrat Lawfare Seeks NY-11 Frankenseat
Marc Elias’ monster map targets Staten Island and the NYC GOP’s only voice.
NOTE: This piece first appeared on NYNewsPress.com.
By Richard Luthmann
Elias’ “Frankenstein” Map to Kill NYC’s Last Republican Seat
(STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK) – New York’s 11th Congressional District – the only New York City seat still held by a Republican – is under siege. A gang of Democrat lawyers led by Marc Elias, the partisan mastermind of redistricting warfare, has filed a lawsuit to concoct two grotesque new “Frankenstein” districts that would stitch the North Shore of Staten Island together with left-leaning Manhattan, and the South Shore with a tract of Brooklyn dominated by housing projects.
The plan is to erase the city’s lone GOP voice.
The case, Williams v. Board of Elections, was launched in late October in New York County Supreme Court (Index No. 164002/2025) by four plaintiffs hand-picked by Elias’ team. They allege the current map – drawn by a neutral special master and adopted just last year – “unconstitutionally dilutes” the voting power of Black and Hispanic Staten Islanders.
It’s a bold claim, considering NY-11’s sitting congresswoman, Nicole Malliotakis, is herself the daughter of a Cuban immigrant and the first Latina ever to represent the district.
But facts matter little in this weaponized justice power play. Elias’ D.C.-based firm (Elias Law Group) has made a business of suing over maps that don’t favor Democrats, and this latest lawsuit is its opening salvo to gerrymander Staten Island from red to blue ahead of 2026.
The proposed remedy is downright ghoulish: rip Staten Island out of its compact Staten Island/Brooklyn district and graft the North Shore onto lower Manhattan – an entirely separate borough – solely to engineer a Democrat “minority influence” seat.
The South Shore’s fate would be no different, as it would be combined with a massive stretch of Coney Island’s housing projects in Brooklyn.
Republicans have blasted this as a blatantly unconstitutional racial gerrymander and “frivolous attempt” to overturn voters’ will. As New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox put it, “Democrats attempt another gerrymander of NY-11 by linking Staten Island to Manhattan… this is a naked attempt to disenfranchise voters.”
The last time Democrats tried to gerrymander New York’s map in 2022, the state’s highest court struck it down as illegal.
Now Elias is trying again via judicial fiat – effectively a “Frankenseat” operation to slash GOP Rep. Malliotakis out of Congress and resurrect a Democrat stronghold in her place.
Democrat Lawfare Seeks NY-11 Frankenseat: Partisan Operatives Weaponize a New Voting Rights Law
To make this monster, Elias and his plaintiffs are wielding New York’s brand-new John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act (NYVRA) like a scalpel – or rather, a bludgeon. They claim Staten Island’s district violates the NYVRA by not maximizing minority “influence,” citing statistics that the island’s Black and Hispanic population has grown from 11% in 1980 to nearly 30% today.
In their narrative, minority voters are “routinely and systematically” unable to elect their candidates of choice under the current lines. Never mind that Staten Island has never elected a Black representative (the borough’s voters have long preferred centrist white Democrats or Republicans), or that Malliotakis herself won despite being Hispanic – the suit insists minority voters somehow remain “disenfranchised” because Malliotakis wasn’t the “candidate of choice” for most Black and Hispanic voters.
The plaintiffs – two from Staten Island and two conveniently from Manhattan’s 10th District – even argue they “should” reside in a district that connects them with Staten Island’s minority community.
In other words, they recruited Manhattan ringers to justify dragging this case into a friendly Manhattan court and to demand a map splicing lower Manhattan with Staten Island. It’s a cynical ploy to use race as the pretext for a partisan redraw.
Crucially, their legal theory pushes the NYVRA beyond its limits. The 2022 state law was meant to stop local vote suppression – it “does not apply to congressional and state legislative redistricting” at all.
Even House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries acknowledged in an August 2025 letter that the NYVRA’s protections currently exclude congressional maps, urging Albany to change that via new legislation.
In short, Team Elias is asking a state judge to deploy a law in a way the legislature never authorized – effectively inviting judicial activism to rewrite the rules. Their gambit also collides with the U.S. Constitution: drawing a district predominantly on racial lines risks a 14th Amendment violation for racial gerrymandering.
The plaintiffs couch their demands in the language of rights and diversity, but this case is transparently about raw power. It’s partisan lawfare draped in a Voting Rights costume, orchestrated by a Hillary Clinton/Democrat machine lawyer who boasts about suing GOP states nationwide.
Staten Island’s Republican enclave is simply the latest target on Marc Elias’s hit list.
Democrat Lawfare Seeks NY-11 Frankenseat: The Political Operative Plaintiff Gagged By Marc Elias
We reached out to one of the Staten Island plaintiffs, Michael Williams.
He works for the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development and is a Doctoral Fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center. He did not return our request for comment on the lawsuit. He is what we asked:
From: Richard Luthmann <richard.luthmann@protonmail.com>
Date: On Thursday, November 20th, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Subject: NY-11 Lawsuit
To: williams.mike226@gmail.com <williams.mike226@gmail.com>Hi Michael,
Journalist Richard Luthmann here. I’m reaching out as part of my ongoing reporting on the Williams v. BOE redistricting case. Since you’re the lead Petitioner and the public face of this lawsuit, I want to give you an opportunity to address several factual, legal, and political issues that observers — including election-law experts, community leaders, and Staten Island residents — are already raising.
I’m hoping you can respond on the record to the following questions:
1. Your petition relies heavily on claims about racially polarized voting and demographic change on Staten Island. Can you provide the underlying data sets and expert methodology you are using to support those claims?
2. You argue that Staten Island’s Black and Latino communities have “no opportunity” to influence congressional elections. Yet the North Shore has elected multiple minority officials at the city and state level. How does your coalition account for those wins?
3. Two of the four petitioners (Torres and Carty) live in Manhattan and are not part of NY-11. Can you explain why Manhattan residents are driving a lawsuit about Staten Island’s congressional district?
4. Your petition advocates pairing Staten Island with lower Manhattan — a district configuration that hasn’t existed for 50 years. Can you point to any community-of-interest analysis showing that Staten Island voters want to be joined to Manhattan rather than Brooklyn?
5. You rely on the New York Voting Rights Act, but that law was not clearly written to apply to federal congressional districts. What is your legal basis for extending the NYSVRA to U.S. House seats?
6. Do you acknowledge that your proposed remedy — explicitly race-driven redistricting — may violate the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause under Shaw v. Reno and Miller v. Johnson? What is your theory that survives strict scrutiny?
7. If the NYSVRA is interpreted to require coalition districts based on race, how do you answer the argument that the law becomes unconstitutional for privileging certain racial groups over others?
8. Are you concerned that the BOE, Governor, and legislative leaders may not defend the existing map vigorously, given their public statements about redrawing New York’s congressional lines, and that may lead to problems on appeal?
9. A number of political observers say this lawsuit is part of a national strategy by the Elias Law Group to flip NY-11 — the only Republican congressional seat in NYC. Is this primarily a partisan case dressed in civil-rights language?
10. Why should Staten Island’s long-standing district configuration be overturned based on the preferences of voters in lower Manhattan who want to join NY-11?
11. How would your proposal affect Staten Island’s political identity, which has historically been unified and seen as distinct from Manhattan?
12. What do you say to Staten Islanders — white, Black, Latino, and Asian — who feel that a Manhattan-Staten Island “Frankenstein district” would dilute their community’s voice?
13. What do you ultimately hope to accomplish through this litigation?
14. What is your ideal final map for NY-11, and how would you define a “successful” remedy?
15. Do you expect this case to be appealed, and are you prepared for the possibility of removal to federal court?
Michael, I want to ensure my reporting accurately and fairly reflects your perspective. If you can respond to these questions — even briefly — it will help present your position in your own words, in full context.
If we go to press prior to you having a chance to comment, please send us what you can, and we will incorporate the same into a follow-up.
Regards,
Richard Luthmann
Writer, Journalist, and Commentator
Tips or Story Ideas:
(239) 631-5957
richard.luthmann@protonmail.com
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Our conversations with several other journalists and media outlets and the total lack of response from WIlliams lead us to the conclusion that Williams has been directed not to respond to press questions, likely by his Democrat Party operative lawyers at The Elias Law Group.
This outlet remains ready, willing, and able to speak with any participants in this case who still respect the free press.
Democrat Lawfare Seeks NY-11 Frankenseat: Malliotakis Fights Back
Caught in the crosshairs is Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who won NY-11 in 2020 and 2022 and stands as New York City’s lone Republican in Congress. Malliotakis knows this lawsuit isn’t about protecting minority voters – it’s about wiping out the only GOP-held seat in NYC.
She blasted the case as “a frivolous lawsuit” engineered by “an ultra-partisan Washington law firm that does the bidding of the national Democrat Party… to tilt the scale for next year’s election.” Indeed, the current district lines were drawn by a neutral special master and then endorsed by New York’s independent redistricting commission, Democratic legislature, and governor.
Malliotakis says the plaintiffs are trying to “upend” a court-approved map simply because Democrats failed to win the seat at the ballot box. She has a point: her district went for Donald Trump by 24 points in 2024, and Democrats see ousting her as key to retaking the House.
The Congresswoman has moved to intervene in the case, alongside five local voters, to defend the district. However, questions swirl about whether her legal team is up to brawling with the Elias machine. Malliotakis hired Misha Tseytlin, a Chicago-based attorney, to lead her defense. Tseytlin – a former Wisconsin Solicitor General – is an outsider with a less-than-stellar record in high-stakes election cases (critics note he’s a “two-time loser” in recent redistricting battles).
Bringing in a hired gun from Chicago, who lacks deep New York roots, has raised eyebrows in Staten Island GOP circles.
“Nicole’s counsel already lost twice – and it’s looking like it’ll be three times?” one local politico quipped.
While Tseytlin’s team at Troutman Pepper will argue the law, the stakes for Malliotakis are intensely personal. Not only is she fighting for her political life, but as a Latina Republican she represents a rebuke to the lawsuit’s premise. It’s not lost on observers that Elias’s purported crusade for minority representation is targeting a woman of color who already represents the district – and doing so by proposing to carve up communities in a blatantly partisan way.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, a fellow Republican, has voiced strong support for Malliotakis and outrage at the lawsuit. Fossella, a former congressman himself, noted that the current district was drawn to give Staten Island a cohesive voice in Washington.
“We’ve always maintained that we want Staten Island to have the strongest voice possible in the House… [the earlier Democrat map] would have diluted that voice,” Fossella said, referring to the 2022 gerrymander that a court threw out.
This new lawsuit, in Fossella’s view, is just déjà vu – another scheme that would slice Staten Island’s influence to pieces. Malliotakis and local GOP leaders are gearing up for a constitutional fight.
Still, many on the Island worry that a Manhattan judge might be swayed by Elias’s arguments or by the Democratic establishment’s pressure to deliver more blue seats. The Congresswoman’s intervention is a start, but facing the Democrats’ legal Goliath, she may need reinforcements to truly hold the line.
Tabacco: Staten Island’s Civic Champion Enters the Fray
Enter John Tabacco – a lifelong Staten Islander, community advocate, and former citywide candidate and Reform Party state Vice Chair – who is poised to crash the party and ensure Staten Island isn’t sold out in backroom deals. This week Tabacco said he plans to file his own motion to intervene as a respondent, seeking to join the case on the side of defending NY-11’s current boundaries.
He says he may seek to remove the case to federal court or to Staten Island, “where it really belongs.”
Unlike any politician or partisan operative, Tabacco casts himself as an independent champion of Staten Island’s “community integrity.”
“At this point, no existing party adequately represents the people’s interest in keeping Staten Island whole,” Tabacco said.
He has a point. The city and state officials named as respondents (Governor Hochul, the legislative leaders, etc.) don’t personally care about Staten Island’s fate. And Malliotakis, for all her efforts, is naturally focused on saving her own seat.
Tabacco aims to broaden the battle beyond one election: to give Staten Island residents a voice in defending their home turf and the legal process that drew fair lines in the first place. Tabacco’s entry would change the dynamic.
“I’ve spent over two decades speaking out about New York City governance and Staten Island issues. I ran for NYC Comptroller in 2021, as a fighter against the political establishment,” he said.
Now, he wants to take that fight to the courtroom. Tabacco is already skewering the Elias plan as a raw power grab that cynically exploits racial rhetoric.
“The lawsuit’s true goal is to create two Democratic district. That would outright violate the Equal Protection Clause if achieved, by prioritizing race above all else in line-drawing,” Tabacco said.
Staten Island’s distinct community, he argues, should not be dismembered just because Washington Democrats smell an opportunity.
“This is a case in contrasts. Staten Island vs. Manhattan. Outsider lawyers vs. hometown voices. Judicial fiat vs. democratic choice,” Tabacco said. “I want to intervene to ensure the courts hear from ordinary Staten Islanders unfiltered, not just from incumbents or Albany and Manhattan elections officials.”
It also provides a backup plan in case Malliotakis’s legal team falters. After all, Tabacco isn’t beholden to party bosses; his only interest is the Staten Island community.
Locals have applauded Tabacco’s move. Even Malliotakis’s allies privately concede that having a passionate Staten Island civilian in the mix bolsters the defense. It signals to the judge that this fight isn’t merely about one politician’s career – it’s about an entire borough’s political voice being amputated for partisan gain.
“This lawsuit is about power, plain and simple,” Tabacco said, vowing to expose the plaintiffs’ agenda.
In a characteristically blunt flourish, he dismissed the case’s racial justification as a “red herring.”
“They’re using race as a cover story, but reverse discrimination is still discrimination,” Tabacco told me. “At the end of the day, it’s not about black, brown, or white – it’s about green, the color of raw political power, and I’m here to make sure Staten Island doesn’t lose its voice to a power grab.”
