Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., slammed a New York State Supreme Court ruling targeting her 11th Congressional District as hypocritical and politically motivated, telling Newsmax on Monday it undermines minority representation while pretending to protect it.
In an interview on "National Report," Malliotakis — the first Hispanic lawmaker to represent the Staten Island-southern Brooklyn district — rebutted claims that the current map disenfranchises minority voters.
"This is a meritless lawsuit. We will fight it in the appeals process," Malliotakis said, noting that the judge, Jeffrey Pearlman, is the "former chief of staff and legal counsel to Gov. Kathy Hochul."
Malliotakis took particular issue with the court's finding that the district dilutes minority voting power, pointing to her own background.
"And the idea that somehow my district disenfranchises minorities — when, by the way, I'm the first minority to represent the district as a half-Hispanic woman — and their solution is not to add more minorities," she said. "Their solution, the plaintiffs, is to add more white liberals into the district."
Malliotakis argued the ruling ignores the will of voters in one of the few remaining competitive districts in New York City.
"The bottom line is this is the only competitive seat in the city of New York," she said. "It was represented by a Democrat, and the people of Staten Island-southern Brooklyn fired that individual [Max Rose] because he wasn't representing them properly."
"They hired me," said Malliotakis.
She accused outside interests of attempting to engineer a permanent Democrat majority by dismantling the district.
"And now you have this Washington law firm coming in saying, we don't care what the voters of Staten Island and Brooklyn say or how they vote," Malliotakis said, referring to the Elias Law Group.
"We're going to set it up so you can never elect another Republican in the city of New York again."
She also warned that eliminating her seat would leave New York City without any Republican representation in Congress at a time when progressive Democrats wield significant influence.
"It is so vital now with [Mayor] Zohran Mamdani," she said. "But you have [New York Democratic Party Reps.] AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and] Jerry Nadler; Hakeem Jeffries is my neighboring district."
"You have [Sen.] Chuck Schumer[, D-N.Y.,] in my backyard here in Brooklyn."
"And we need somebody to push back against what they're saying and hold them accountable," she said. "That's precisely why they want to eliminate the seat — because they not only want to have no accountability here in New York City, but they want to make Hakeem Jeffries the next speaker."
"And this is a critical seat," Malliotakis added.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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