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NY-22 Republican representative Brandon Williams announced on Twitter Tuesday that he will serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Williams campaigned on energy independence and strongly opposed renewable energy policies like the Green New Deal.

Following central New York’s historically close midterm elections in November 2022 and electorate-shifting statewide redistricting in May 2022, here’s what the Jan. 7 inauguration of the 188th Congress means for Onondaga County and New York state’s newly-elected representatives.

“My strategy was always grassroots, because I didn’t have the support of the Republican Party, so I had to go out and speak to people,” Williams told syracuse.com in November 2022. “They want to hear straight talk about the cause of inflation and real solutions.”

Since being sworn into office, Williams has followed through on his pro-life campaign promises. On Jan. 11, Williams voted in favor of a resolution which “condemns recent attacks… against pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.” The bill also calls for the Biden administration to use “all appropriate law enforcement authorities” to protect the rights of the aforementioned groups.

Williams also supported H.R. 26, or the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a bill which would criminalize abortion if a health care provider fails to protect a child born following an attempted abortion. The act states that a health care practitioner who “fails to provide the required degree of care” or “failure to report such failure” could be subject to criminal penalties, including a fine and/or five years in prison.

In the New York State Senate, Democrats retained double the number of seats Republicans did, with the GOP gaining five seats in the state assembly and the Democratic Party maintaining its 102-48 party advantage.

For the fifth-straight legislative session, the New York State Senate opened the new year by passing a series of voting measures, which includes allowing food and non-alcoholic drinks to be given to voters waiting in line at polls and establishing voter suppression as a criminal offense.

Sen. Rachel May introduced two of those electoral bills — one allows state counties to establish portable polling places, while the other provides either Gov. Kathy Hochul or the state Board of Elections to remove an election commissioner for “incompetence, misconduct, or other good cause.”

“Our democracy works best when everyone participates, and it is our job as Legislators to make that participation as easy as possible,” May said in a Jan. 13 statement.

In New York’s gubernatorial race, incumbent New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a democrat, defeated Republican representative Lee Zeldin by over five points to become the state’s first woman governor. Hochul’s election to office marks the closest margin of victory in a New York gubernatorial race since 1994.

Despite the loss, Zeldin described his campaign as “once-in-a-generation,” as Republicans posted its strongest statewide performance in decades.

The NY-03 district race was also under the national spotlight with Republican Rep. George Santos’ election to office and recent swearing in. Santos defeated Democratic candidate Robert Zimmerman by over eight points.

A New York Times investigation identified inconsistencies with Santos’ background — Santos recently admitted to lying about his college and work history. The Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan government watchdog, accused Santos of allegedly breaking campaign finance laws.

I’m honored to serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee where, under Chairman Sam Grave’s leadership, we'll work to improve our nation’s infrastructure, fight for energy independence, and improve the day-to-day lives of all Americans. https://t.co/NAlmuEmIUM

— Brandon Williams (@Brandon4ny22) January 17, 2023

Despite the House’s inability to prevent him from retaining office, Santos could face calls to resign from office. On Jan. 11, leaders from the Nassau County Republican Party called for Santos to resign. On Tuesday, several GOP sources told CNN that the House Republican Steering Committee selected Santos to serve on the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

New York state redistricting influenced the outcome of several competitive New York house district races, including the NY-03 district that Santos represents. New York’s former redistricting map gave Democrats a plus-six advantage, but the new maps — drawn after a judge scrapped Democrats’ original redistricting plans in April — turned a previously Democrat-leaning seat into a highly competitive toss-up.

State redistricting also changed the electorate for May’s New York State Senate seat, shifting her previous incumbency in the 53rd district to a new constituency in the 48th district.

The old district map gave Republicans a plus-16 advantage, but the new map resulted in the newly-created NY-22 district becoming a toss-up, with Williams beating Conole by one point.

Williams recently co-sponsored a resolution that would set term limits for members of Congress. He pledged to follow through on this proposal during his campaign, which has already been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary within the coming weeks.

Published on January 17, 2023 at 11:02 pm

Contact Dominic: dcchiapp@syr.edu | @DominicChiappo2