After carefully following the 2010 Congressional Election of the Third District of New Jersey for a semester and blogging about everything from debates between the candidates to the back and forth campaign attack ads released by the candidates, I only have one final topic to address—the re-drawing of congressional district lines. It is no secret that the Republicans have come into power again after their takeover in the 2010 Congressional Election wins, and it is clear that the Republican Party will have a significant influence in the redistricting process. According to an article from ABC World News, Jeff Reichert states that redistricting “is really about the power and who has it—and the lengths that they’re willing to go to keep people from getting it…aside from the fraud, this is the best way to control elections that you can.” The article continues to talk about the dangers of redistricting that have developed as the process has now become a way for lawmakers to map districts “according to any specifications they wish.”
It is evident that the G.O.P control has strengthened because of the 2010 election results; however, Census projections have measured that the state of New Jersey is expected to lose one of its 13 House seats. The process for redistricting in New Jersey is different from that of other states in that state legislatures and governors, usually from the same party, do not draw the maps. Instead, New Jersey follows a “system of drawing districts through a bipartisan commission with a neutral tie-breaker recognizes the inherently partisan nature of redistricting in a two-party system while giving the final say to the public interest by giving the tie-breaking vote on the final plan to a public member…” Redistricting is said to be the ultimate political process as it determines whether political careers ultimately continue or end. Given this, we can only wait to see how Jon Runyan, a first-timer in politics, stands against the redistricting process that is to come. While all this is happening, the citizens of New Jersey (me included) are all holding their breath, hoping for the change that they need to finally come.
