NJ Democrats Win Tug Of War Over Redistricting Map

NEW JERSEY — The Garden State’s new redistricting map may have a decidedly blue tint for the next decade. But advocates caution that it's too early to declare winners and losers – yet.

On Wednesday, the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission adopted Democrats’ proposed congressional map for 2022-2031, siding with them over a competing proposal from state Republicans. See the map online here.

Multi-district municipal maps and data will be posted online in the next few days before filing with the Secretary of State before January 18, 2022, the commission stated. Read more about the process – and purpose – of redistricting here.

Barring unexpected election results for either side, Democrats’ 10-2 majority in the New Jersey delegation is likely to shrink to 9-3 under the new map, Politico reported.

Three of the state’s four potentially endangered Democratic incumbents will have safer districts to run in next November: Rep. Andy Kim (District 3), Rep. Josh Gottheimer (District 5) and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (District 11). However, Rep. Tom Malinowski (District 7) may face a tougher challenge in a district that will become more Republican-friendly, NJ.com reported.

Doug Steinhardt, the GOP redistricting chair, blasted the redrawn map, charging that Republicans “were never given a real chance to win.” He shared an image of the Republican map proposal on social media.

The Fair Districts New Jersey coalition also expressed some concern about the approved map, saying that although the commission seemed to consider input from advocates about “racial equity,” more details are urgently needed.

According to the group, the new map will:

• Put Morristown and Dover in the same district
• Put Neptune, Neptune City and Asbury Park in the same district
• Keep South Orange and Maplewood together in the same district
• Keep Camden and Pennsauken in the same district

“While we are heartened that the commission clearly incorporated input from some community members, the map unfortunately does not do enough to ensure all New Jersey communities will be equitably represented,” coalition members said in a joint statement.

“We are also deeply disappointed about the lack of transparency during this process,” the coalition stated.

The group pointed out that it had also submitted a map proposal, which included six majority people of color districts.

“According to the latest Census, New Jersey is now over 48 percent people of color, which is why the submitted racial equity map included six majority-minority districts,” they wrote. “However, the commission’s final map once again draws only five majority-minority districts, the same number of districts which currently exist, despite the fact that all new growth in this state came from people of color.”

“The commission’s decision to not recognize our state’s growing communities of color means that the map will once again overrepresent our state’s declining white population,” the group said.

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