'Thinly veiled racism': Dem congressman slams internal push to move Black colleague to a new district

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) accused allies of fellow Democratic Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney of engaging in "thinly veiled racism" with their efforts to move freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) to a new congressional district.

Maloney announced earlier this month that, due to the court-ordered redrawing of New York's election map, he would be running in Jones's district despite the fact that Jones is a freshman lawmaker and Maloney is the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman reported on Wednesday that Maloney's allies are now making the argument that Jones "would be ideologically better suited to another district" than the one he's currently representing.

This sparked anger from Torres, who said it was ridiculous to think that Jones was ideologically out of step with his district.

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"The thinly veiled racism here is profoundly disappointing," he wrote. "A black man is ideologically ill suited to represent a Westchester County District that he represents presently and won decisively in 2020? Outrageous."

Politico reported earlier this week that Maloney's decision to run in Jones's district has been causing turmoil in the party.

"While the map is not final and Jones hasn’t yet said whether he’ll take on Maloney, his other option if New York’s current maps hold is challenging Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), another Black progressive freshman," the publication wrote. "Many of his colleagues are now bracing for the prospect of a freshman being forced to go up against the member who controls the party’s campaign coffers — a scenario they describe as completely avoidable."