Coalition of African-American, Asian-American, Latino advocacy organizations submitted map to 11-member commission charged with redrawing legislative districts
Legislative Redistricting Commission members listen to public speakers during a public hearing held in Camden. TRENTON — A coalition of African-American, Asian-American and Latino advocacy organizations have proposed a new map of legislative districts aimed at increasing minority representation in the state Senate and Assembly.
The group this afternoon submitted the map to the 11-member commission charged with redrawing the 40 legislative districts based on Census data.
“Our goal is to demonstrate to the commission where our groups have communities of interest so they can take that into consideration when redrawing the map,” said Christian Estevez, executive vice president of the Latino Action Network, a member of the coalition. “We’re trying to create opportunities for more diverse representation in the Legislature.”
The map would seek to increase representation through a combination of districts where one minority group makes up a majority of the population, and "opportunity districts" where there are enough minorities to make it more likely that the major parties will field diverse tickets. The map increases the number of these districts from 7 to 14, according to the group.
Both Republicans and Democrats on the commission have said they want to increase the number of minorities elected to the state Legislature. Hispanics and Asians are particularly underrepresented. Hispanics make up almost 18 percent of the states population, but hold less than 6 percent of seats in the state Legislature. Asian-Americans, who make up about 8 percent of the population, hold less than 2 percent of the seats.
The map would make major changes to Republican and Democratic districts, and pit several incumbent lawmakers against each other.
For instance, Perth Amboy and New Brunswick would be drawn into the same legislative district, giving Hispanics a significant percentage of its population. In order to achieve that, Edison, Metuchen and Woodbridge would be put together, leading to a primary battle between state Sens. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) and Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex).
State Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex) would be thrown into a district with state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), leaving those two face off against each other in the general election in what appears to be a heavily Democratic district.
And state Sen. John Girgenti’s (D-Passaic) hometown of Hawthorne would be removed from heavily Democratic Paterson, which currently dominates his district, and placed into a mostly Bergen County district represented by state Sen. Bob Gordon (D-Bergen). Removing Girgenti from Paterson would give Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-Passaic) a clear shot at a state Senate seat.
“We tried to bring more Latinos that are out back into the district, and one of the ways we did that was by kicking out these little towns. It ends up having that effect,” said Estevez.