Hudson Valley’s Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney admits fumbling Democratic redistricting fracas with Rep. Mondaire Jones

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) admitted mishandling the redistricting civil war that effectively forced fellow Democratic lawmaker Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) out of his suburban district.

The powerful Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee leader admitted offending many in his party by big-footing Rep. Mondaire Jones, a popular progressive rising star.

“I know there are a lot of strong feelings about it and I think I could’ve handled it better,” Maloney said in a new interview with News12 Westchester.

He accurately boasted that in the end “we avoided a member-on-member primary.”

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But Maloney still faces a progressive primary challenge from state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx), who moved a bit upstate to battle him.

Jones had to move to another part of the metro New York City area to run in a newly created district spanning lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.

“It was going to be a difficult decision either way,” Maloney said. “I decided to run where I live.”

The lawmaker raised hackles when a court-appointed special master redrew district maps, creating two options for Maloney: a new NY-18 that shifted his district slightly upstate and another, NY-17, that encompassed most of the district that Jones now represents.

Many Democrats hoped Maloney would run in NY-18 and clear the path for Jones in NY-17, a move that arguably would’ve given the party its best chance of holding both seats.

Instead, Maloney blindsided Jones and progressives by announcing he would run in NY-17, which is somewhat more heavily Democratic than the other one. That gives Republicans a fighting chance to pick off NY-18.

Facing an ugly choice, Jones decided to move into lower Manhattan to compete in the crowded race for the new NY-10 district.