N.H. House Republican proposes new congressional map; Democrats Kuster and Pappas would reside in same district

Rep. Ross Berry, a Manchester Republican who serves on the legislative committee drafting up new congressional districts, is releasing his personal proposed map as GOP lawmakers search to resolve an deadlock with Gov. Chris Sununu over redistricting.

Berry’s map, which is able to come up for a committee vote on Wednesday with no public listening to, combines cities and cities that straddle Interstate 93, together with Salem, Derry, Manchester and Harmony, to kind a brand new 1st Congressional District.

Beneath the plan, Democrat Annie Kuster, a five-term incumbent who resides in Hopkinton, would not reside within the 2nd Congressional District, which she has represented for 10 years.

“I didn’t construct districts round incumbents or candidates,” Berry stated. “To place it plainly, I don’t construct maps round politicians.”

Beneath his proposal, the brand new 2nd District would wrap across the 1st, combining Seacoast cities with the North Nation, Higher Valley and Monadnock Area.

“I’m an I-93 man. I’ve all the time lived on I-93 within the state,” Berry stated. “We’re at the moment not collectively as an financial neighborhood.”

Home GOP lawmakers initially proposed a map that may have shifted 75 cities to new districts, with Republicans gaining an edge within the 1st District whereas primarily conceding the 2nd District to Democrats.

Sununu threatened to veto that map, citing issues about making the districts much less aggressive. Chris Pappas, a Democrat, is in his second time period representing the first District, a seat that beforehand flip-flopped for years between the 2 events.

Beneath Berry’s plan, Pappas, who’s from Manchester, and Kuster would each reside within the 1st District. There is no such thing as a requirement that candidates reside within the congressional districts they symbolize, although working from outdoors of the district poses a political legal responsibility.

In 2018, Levi Sanders, son of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, ran in a crowded Democratic main for the first Congressional District in New Hampshire, regardless of dwelling on the opposite facet of the state. He completed a distant sixth.

Whereas Sununu provided up his personal congressional map earlier this month, that plan seems to have failed to realize any traction with GOP lawmakers. As an alternative, Berry is selling a 3rd plan, which seeks to equally divide the state by inhabitants, whereas protecting “main financial communities collectively.”

In line with Berry’s evaluation, his proposal makes the first Congressional District extra Republican-leaning than the present map, although it doesn’t go so far as the Home’s authentic proposal. Berry’s map retains eight of the state’s ten counties intact, versus the present map which splits 5 counties.

It isn’t clear if the plan will achieve the help of Sununu or fellow Republicans within the Home, who’re beneath a decent timeline to redraw congressional maps. Sununu’s workplace didn’t instantly return a request for remark.

The state Supreme Court docket has already laid out a timetable for listening to a lawsuit filed by Democrats, together with former Home Speaker Terie Norelli, that alleges that holding the 2022 election utilizing the present Congressional maps would violate the structure.

The court docket named a particular grasp within the case and has scheduled oral arguments for Could 4. The court docket referred to as these “preliminary steps” that “by no means precludes the legislature from enacting a redistricting plan.”

The ten-day submitting interval for candidates opens June 1.