Last week, the New Jersey Redistricting Commission adopted a congressional map by a vote of 6-5 with Commission Chair and former New Jersey Supreme Court Associate Justice Chairman John Wallace siding with the Democratic commission members.
While New Jersey did not lose a congressional seat in the national apportionment process, the population of the state grew fastest in the northeast and slowest in the southern third of the state. Published reports indicate that the probable result after November’s election will be a delegation consisting of nine Democratic members and three Republican members of Congress from New Jersey.
More detailed information, including the Block Assignment Files, Plan Components Report, Population Summary Report, and Population Demographics & Voting Age report can be viewed on the commission website.
The breakdown of the new districts are:
- District 1, currently represented by Congressman Donald Norcross includes parts of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties;
- District 2, currently represented by Congressman Jeff Van Drew, includes all of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem Counties and parts of Gloucester and Ocean counties;
- District 3, currently represented by Congressman Andy Kim, includes parts of Burlington, Mercer, and Monmouth counties;
- District 4, currently represented by Congressman Chris Smith, includes parts of Monmouth and Ocean counties;
- District 5, currently represented by Congressman Josh Gottheimer, includes parts of Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex counties;
- District 6, currently represented by Congressman Frank Pallone, includes parts of Middlesex and Monmouth counties;
- District 7, currently represented by Congressman Tom Malinowski, includes all of Hunterdon and Warren counties, and parts of Morris, Somerset, Union, and Sussex counties;
- District 8, currently represented by Congressman Albio Sires, includes parts of Essex, Hudson, and Union counties,
- District 9, currently represented by Congressman Bill Pascrell, includes parts of Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic counties;
- District 10, currently represented by Congressman Donald Payne, Jr., includes parts of Essex, Hudson, and Union counties;
- District 11, current represented by Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, includes parts of Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties; and
- District 12, currently represented by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, includes parts of Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset, and Union counties.
Under the new map, 16 municipalities will split between districts as follows:
- Berkeley (Districts 2 & 4),
- Bridgewater (Districts 7 & 12),
- East Greenwich (Districts 1 & 2),
- Freehold Township (Districts 3 & 4),
- Hillsborough (Districts 7 & 12),
- Jersey City (Districts 8 & 10),
- Kearney (Districts 8 & 9),
- Lacey (Districts 2 & 4),
- Linden (Districts 7 & 10),
- Maywood (Districts 5 & 9),
- Mendham Township (Districts 7 & 11),
- Middletown (Districts 4 & 6),
- Montclair (Districts 10 & 11),
- Newark (Districts 8 & 10),
- Old Bridge (Districts 6 & 12), and
- Wayne (Districts 9 & 11).
Primary and general elections utilizing this map will take place this year and every even-numbered year through 2030. Each district contains 773,585 residents.
On December 30, the Republican members of the Commission filed a motion with the New Jersey Supreme Court to vacate the adopted map. They claim the adopted map violates equal protection afforded in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution since the tiebreaker, Commissioner Judge Wallace, stated that each map was acceptable and he chose the Democratic map since the Republican map “won” in 2011. The lawsuit requests that the Supreme Court order the commissioners back for further deliberation. While there is no deadline for the court to operate, in order to avoid a delay in the partisan nominating conventions and filing deadlines, a decision on the map would need to be finalized by early March.
Paul Penna, Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org or 609-695-3481, x110.