I’ve written extensively about the corrupt Wallace-Wang redistricting map that turned New Jersey from a state with five competitive congressional districts to a state with… one? Arguably two or three in a “wave” cycle. A combination of alleged data manipulation and naked partisan hackery (Wallace, the tiebreaker, picking the Democrat map because – in his words – Republicans won last time) resulted in a 12-district map that deprives millions of New Jersey voters of an actual choice every other November; only a handful of residents now live in a district where both parties have a fair shot at victory, something which is ironically the antithesis of democracy.
The proof of what I’m arguing is clearly in the pudding.
Republicans picked up the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022 but got blown out in NJ-03, NJ-05, and NJ-11, districts which had been competitive in recent cycles under the former map. Only Tom Kean Jr. in NJ-07 managed to slip by, and he’s already a major target for the DCCC ahead of the next national contest.
There’s more: on Monday, the NRCC (which serves as the GOP’s national campaign arm for House campaigns) released its early list of 2024 targeted Democrat districts. For the first time in recent memory, there isn’t a single Garden State congressional district anywhere on the list. Three in PA, one in NY, none in New Jersey. Conversely, the DCCC hasn’t included any of its New Jersey Democrat members as high priorities for coming cycle. New Jersey is officially no longer a major battleground for federal races.
The consequences are profound. New Jersey hasn’t voted Republican for president since 1988 or a GOP U.S. Senator since before Watergate, but down-ballot Republican could rely the NRCC and allied conservative groups pumping money into the state and overlapping media markets to buoy House hopefuls. Now it appears that third party assistance won’t be forthcoming.
Anyone who thinks this is a “good thing” is either hopelessly dense or as big of a hack as Wallace himself.
