GOP congressional, NH House redistricting plans pass
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Jan. 6—MANCHESTER — Dramatic changes to the boundaries of New Hampshire's two congressional districts cleared the Republican-led House of Representatives along partisan lines Wednesday.
The 184-171 vote sends the measure over to the state Senate, where it's likely to be adopted.
House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, signaled his own confidence that all the House redistricting plans would remain intact.
House Democratic lawmakers charged the GOP plan was to "rig" the election of a Republican in the First Congressional District to replace two-term U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., who is seeking a third term.
Traditionally, the House and Senate have rarely altered the other legislative branch's work on redistricting.
The House had the job of proposing maps for the congressional districts, its own House seats and county commissioners. The Senate gets first crack at redrawing its own Senate districts and the five seats on the Executive Council.
After the vote, Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham, said her party's only hope may rest with convincing Gov. Chris Sununu, a three-term Republican, to reject the new maps.
"Governor Sununu has stated that he will veto any maps that do not pass 'the smell test.' The governor ought to get his veto pen ready because these maps smell like a landfill," Smith said.
GOP: Advantage, Dems
Rep. Ross Berry, R-Manchester, said both current districts favor Democrats, which is why their nominees have won nine of the past 10 congressional races of the past decade.
"One drop of red and nine drops of blue is not a purple state; it is blue," Berry said.
According to the 2020 Census, the current 1st Congressional District had 18,000 more residents than the Second District, represented by Democrat Annie Kuster, who is serving her fifth term.
The House-passed plan moves more than 300,000 residents in 75 towns or city wards from one district to another.
This takes from the 1st and moves into the 2nd District the Democratic cities of Portsmouth, Rochester, Dover and Somersworth.
In turn, it moves some of the largest Republican towns in the southern tier from the 2nd into the 1st — Salem, Hudson, Litchfield, Pelham, Atkinson and Windham.
House Democrats proposed only moving from the 1st to the 2nd District the town of Hampstead, a Republican stronghold.
The House rejected that alternative, 189-167.
Rep. Robert Lynn, R-Windham, said one of the goals of the new maps was to group residents in similar "political" communities of interest.
"The Portsmouth-Durham area has much more in common with Keene, Hanover and Concord than it is does with Manchester, Salem and Derry," Lynn said.
By a similar margin Wednesday, the House approved the Republican plan to realign the districts for the 400 seats in the House of Representatives (HB 50).
The vote was 186-168.
Democrats had criticized the GOP plan for not giving enough towns their own representatives.
Rep. Leonard Turcotte, R-Barrington, said "tradeoffs must be made" from perfect representation because districts can't cross party lines and sometimes small, landlocked towns have to be grouped together.
