Every 10 years, a bipartisan commission redraws the lines for the 40 districts representing the state’s 565 municipalities in the state Legislature. Late last month, the Legislative Apportionment Commission released their final legislative map.
Initially, both the Republican and Democratic maps submitted were rejected by the commission tiebreaker, Philip Carchman. Instead, the two maps were scrapped entirely in favor of a compromise hashed out by the two parties. The result is a bipartisan map that, in most ways, marks a clear improvement over either original proposals and is fairer to Republicans.
For example, Districts 1, 2, and 3 (Atlantic, Cumberland, and Gloucester counties), which represent seats recently picked up by Republicans, have become more Republican. The same is true in the 8th District, which incorporates Burlington County.
The new map also pits Democratic senators against each other. Senators Richard Codey and Nia Gill are now in the same district, as well as Senators Nicholas Sacco and Brian Stack. Sen. Sacco announced last week that he would retire and endorsed Sen. Stack for re-election.
The entire legislature will be up for re-election in November 2023, which will be the first election under the new map.
