New congressional district map largely a victory for Democrats

Democrats won a victory Wednesday when the New Jersey Redistricting Commission approved the party’s preferred new congressional map after the tiebreaker, former Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, backed the party’s map in what was otherwise a party-line vote.

The new map will shore up competitive North Jersey districts held by Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-11) and Josh Gottheimer (D-05) by removing some conservative towns and adding more solidly Democratic ones; give Rep. Andy Kim (D-03) a friendlier district by carving portions of Ocean County out of it and extending it into Mercer County; and remove Republican Rep. Chris Smith’s Hamilton home from the 4th District, forcing him to move to seek re-election to avoid carpetbagger attacks.

Democrats appear to have made a sacrifice out of the 7th District, which Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski has held since 2019. The new district will include more towns that historically vote Republican, making it significantly harder for the liberal firebrand to win re-election. The district was home to one of the nation’s most competitive congressional races in 2020, which Malinowski won by a whisker.

In statements, New Jersey Democratic State Committee Chair LeRoy Jones Jr. said the new map will “enhance minority representation and accurately reflect the partisan and demographic composition of our state,” while New Jersey Republican Party Chair Bob Hugin called it a “nakedly partisan gerrymander.”