After a week of deliberations, officials came to a historic compromise on what the state’s legislative districts should look like by the end of the decade.
For the first time, the Legislative Distribution Commission reached a consensus between the two parties without requiring the 11th member of the committee to vote. The commission approved the card on Friday with nine votes in favor and two against.
The commission decided not to use either maps presented early last week rather, after two public comment meetings, a new map was created.
The new map will confront prominent Democratic senators with each other in several primaries and variable members of the assembly in several constituencies, although in these cases there will be no initial showdowns.
Longtime Senate rivals and colleagues Nicholas Sacco of North Bergen and Brian Stack of Union City will fight in Restructured District 33, and Senator Richard Cody, a former governor, will face frequent ally Senator Nia Gill in the new District 27.
The map of Saka and Stack could lead to the Democratic primary.
They are popular longtime mayors of their Hudson County cities with significant organizational support. They have influence in the legislature, which is overseen by democratic authorities, but Stack is particularly powerful as the new chairman of the judiciary.
Stack currently represents the 33rd Legislative District and Saka the 32nd.
MP Raj Mukherjee has already announced his intention to run for the Senate in the 32nd constituency, saying in a statement Friday afternoon that he had spent time in the legislature studying at the Stack. The county includes Jersey City and Hoboken.
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The primaries between Cody and Gil could put the Democratic Party in a delicate position to choose a white man or a black woman to run in the primaries. Cody, who represents the 27th constituency in its current form, is the longest-serving lawmaker to serve as governor and president of the Senate. Gil, who represents the 34th constituency, holds a senior position in the Senate.
The 11-member commission includes five Democrats, five Republicans and a single tie-break.
The chairman of the Republican delegation, Al Barlas, said that the commission is achieving historical things, “based solely on the fact that our state is diverse, and we have recognized this.” His colleague and longtime friend, Leroy Jones, chairman of the Democratic Delegation, said the map would provide many opportunities to increase minority representation in some counties while “maintaining or improving the goals of competitive counties across the state.”
Philip Karchman, who was appointed as the electoral by the chairman of the state Supreme Court, Stuart Rabner, said both presidents are “strong and tough supporters of their positions.”
He said the card was “not perfect” and “will never be perfect”.
“We will have critics who focus on this map and how it will affect the next election in 2023 or what may happen before that,” Karchman said. “We have not developed a map for the next few weeks, for the next months and even for the next election. We accept the map for the next decade.”
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Earlier this month Fr. the judge rejected the application of former Senate President Stephen Sweeney to return to the status bar. The The lawsuit was filed by Sweeney in the Supreme State Court in Mercer County argued that his removal from the board left South Jersey without representation.
Census data is being used to restructure constituencies at all levels of government, and a new congressional map used to identify federal constituencies has also made headlines. The The state Supreme Court rejected the Republican’s dismissal to this map, paving the way for new frontiers that are expected to protect Democrats in this year’s by-elections.
Democrats occupy 10 of the state’s 12 seats in the House of Representatives. The new map creates the potential for New Jersey Democrats to maintain a 9-3 lead over Republicans after the November by-elections. Democrats are generally expected to lose seats in the House of Representatives across the country.
Contributing to this story was staff writer Dustin Ratioppi.
Katie Sobko is a reporter at the New Jersey Statehouse. To get unlimited access to her work concerning the Governor of New Jersey and the political power structure, sign up or activate your digital account today.
Email: sobko@northjersey.com
Twitter: @katesobko
