Could Second-Home Owners Swing New York’s Swing Districts?

Lauren B. Cramer has raised two daughters in Brooklyn, where she lives and commutes into Manhattan as a lawyer. Allen Zerkin, an adjunct professor of public service, lives just a few miles away. So does Heather Weston, an entrepreneur.

But come this Election Day, all three Brooklynites — along with five other members of their households — plan to cast their ballots to support Democrats much farther afield in closely divided swing districts in New York’s Hudson Valley.

They are part of a growing set of affluent, mostly left-leaning New Yorkers taking advantage of an unusual quirk in state law that allows second-home owners to vote from their country cottages, vacation homes and Hamptons houses that just happen to dot some of the most competitive congressional districts in the country.

Call it the rise of weekender politics.

It is no accident. With a half-dozen competitive districts, New York has taken center stage in the fight for Congress, and Democratic organizers believe that registering a fraction of the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who own second homes could help tip a Republican majority to a Democratic one.

As of late September, they had helped nearly 2,500 voters shift their registration from New York City into one of the state’s swing districts, according to data provided by MoveIndigo, a group spearheading the effort. The numbers are expected to grow as voting nears.

The sprawling 19th District has seen the biggest shift, with 1,040 voters newly registered at second homes in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions, according to the group. Representative Marc Molinaro, a Republican, won the seat by 4,500 votes in 2022, and is running neck and neck with Josh Riley, a Democrat.