New Jersey Redistricting Commission

Like Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington; the redistricting is completed within an independent, bipartisan commission.

The tie-breaker on that Commission was Rutgers University Professor Alan Rosenthal, a Democrat.

[12][13] The Republican plan chosen by the Redistricting Commission removed seven of the largest Democratic vote-producing municipalities from the 9th District (the Jersey City, North Bergen, and Kearny sections of the District; Fairview, Hackensack, Fair Lawn, and two-thirds of Teaneck) and moved major Passaic County cities and towns (Paterson, Passaic and Clifton, Haledon and Prospect Park) into the 9th Congressional District.

The remaining portions of the old 9th district were shifted into the strongly Republican 5th, thereby making that seat significantly more competitive.

Few suggested last week that the Republican map was really about two incumbent Democrats battling each other, yet that may very well have been the GOP's intent all along.

"[16] Doblin continued by writing that Rothman "had been swallowed by a whale," like the Biblical Jonah.

[17] At the end of the decade, Democrats held a 10-2 majority, with Republicans only holding the 2nd and 4th districts.