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Plainfield is the 'tail' in a newly-configured 12th District. |
With the loss of one seat in the House of Representatives, the drama of New Jersey's Congressional redistricting has landed Plainfield in Holt's newly reconfigured Congressional District, the 12th.
And it's the addition of Plainfield and all of Trenton to his district that leads PolitickerNJ, the state's pre-eminent political affairs website, to declare Holt a winner (see story here).
As PolitickerNJ sees it --
...[e]arly talk focused on a Holt/Lance face off, but instead Holt walks away with a district that is four or five points better for him. Holt traded Monmouth County for more of Middlesex County and grabbed Plainfield and all of Trenton as well....Fanwood and all of Scotch Plains below Route 22 was also added to Holt's district, with the portion north of the highway going to Rep. Leonard Lance's district (which is even more friendly to the GOP with the addition of several Morris and Hunterdon County communities).
This practically puts an end to any dreams of Democrats in that District (where Assemblywoman Linda Stender gave it a nominal try, and North Plainfielder Ed Potosnak also gave it a shot). It is this sort of districting, that gives one party an edge and makes districts less competitive, that many political scientists think is at the root of perennially low voter turnouts.
For its part, Plainfield made a significant contribution to Rep. Frank Pallone's most recent re-election (see my post here). Pallone acknowledged same at Union County Dem Chairperson Charlotte DeFilippo's Christmas party following the 2010 election by publicly thanking Plainfield voters -- particularly the New Democrats political club -- for delivering key pluralities important in his victory (see post here).
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Plainfield was a 'tail' in its old district, too. |
Always the tail and never the dog doesn't mean there isn't a role to play.
- PolitickerNJ: "Congressional Redistricting: Winners and losers"
- Plainfield Today --
- 11/30/2010: "Pallone victory: Plainfield-by-the-numbers"
- 12/08/2010: "Charlotte's Christmas Party: Pallone sits with New Dems"
- Redistricting Data: "New NJ Districts map" | "Population Deviation" | "Components"
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3 comments:
Dan, Your comment
"This practically puts an end to any dreams of Democrats in that District (where Assemblywoman Linda Stender gave it a nominal try, and North Plainfielder Ed Potosnak also gave it a shot). It is this sort of districting, that gives one party an edge and makes districts less competitive, that many political scientists think is at the root of perennially low voter turnouts." could also be said for the 12th district. But, then I remember your statement the day before the election that if your are a Democrat, you vote democrat no matter how bad the candidate. An "I" or an "R" behind someone's name indicates that that candidate could never represent the district fairly! I'm just glad people of Plainfield don't look at other personal traits the same way.
@ 8:58 AM -- You are right, the business about making 'safe' districts applies to almost ALL the districts in the state.
It tends to suppress involvement and turnout in electoral politics where districts are not truly competitive.
As for your 'remembering' what I said, a) it was the DAY OF, not the day BEFORE; and b) I never said any such words as you are suggesting. See the post here --
http://ptoday.blogspot.com/2011/11/today-is-election-day-no-time-to-stay.html
What I did say was, "My differences at times with local leadership OVER LOCAL CANDIDATES AND ISSUES does not ever mean that I have abandoned my stand as one WITHIN the Democratic Party."
As to 'I' or 'R' candidates representing a district fairly, where did you learn your civics?
If they're elected they are my representative, whether they like me or I see eye to eye with them. It's called 'small d' democracy.
There are some of us Plainfielders who do not look forward to Mr Holt as our Congressman. I have a picture somewhere of he and Corzine smiling fondly at each other promising to fix the finances in NJ. If only they can find the missing ....
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