Republicans were never given a real chance to win Chairman Wallace’s support.

Our map was designed to empower New Jersey voters. The final map is the antithesis of that. Our map provided voters, including minority voters, with meaningful opportunities to impact elections and met or exceeded every other standard we were provided. With 5 majority minority districts and 9 districts with a minority voting age population above 30%, the distribution of minority population among all districts accurately reflects the state’s diverse nature.

After considering testimony from 11 public hearings and a full adoption and agreement with Special Counsel Lefelt’s philosophy that towns and counties are a strong measure of communities of interest, we improved the current map.

Our map left nearly 85% of the state’s voters in their current district, avoiding unnecessary voter confusion, and maintained 5 districts that gave voters the opportunity to meaningfully impact general election outcomes and elect a candidate from either party. That map was ignored.

It is a shame that Professor Wang and the Princeton Gerrymandering Project hijacked this process, but it wasn’t a surprise. What was surprising was the ease with which the 13th member allowed that to happen. The people of New Jersey deserved better. John Wallace and New Jersey Democrats failed them. Again.

We cannot convey enough how disappointed we are in the final product of this process. This decade’s redistricting of New Jersey Congressional boundaries was hijacked by a liberal operative hiding under the cloak of bipartisanship. The resultant map was rigged for Democrat success.

The moment hyper-partisan, Democrat Professor Sam Wang and his Princeton Gerrymandering Project were hired as advisors by the Democrat thirteenth member, Republicans and, more importantly, the millions of New Jerseyeans who wanted influence in the State’s federal elections, were unceremoniously boxed out of the decision-making process. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project’s partisan gerrymander gives the people of New Jersey 11 of 12 districts with pre-determined general election outcomes and no competition.

The metrics used by The Princeton Gerrymandering Project to advise the 13th^h Member were created to favor Democratic drawn maps and oppose Republican drawn maps.

Despite Republicans consistently earning over 40% of the statewide vote in New Jersey, Chairman Wallace was advised by Sam Wang that a “fair” map meant 3 Republican seats, or 25% of the delegation, and 9 Democrat seats, or 75% of the delegation. Despite disenfranchising as much as 20% of New Jersey voters, Wallace and Wang put Party first. Although he was designated the 13th member, in practice John Wallace was just the seventh Democrat.

Despite hours of public testimony asking for competitive districts, New Jersey voters got just one.

And despite Chairman Wallace listing competitive districts as 4th on his list of 7 criteria, he chose a map with almost no competition. Of course, he did. He works for a Democrat law firm in a still Democrat state. But if 2021 was any indication, the election tide is turning.

The Democrat partisans who staff The Princeton Gerrymandering Project preach fair districts but have written publicly about their commitment to preserving a Democrat House Majority in 2022 and beyond. In an infamous and conveniently now deleted Tweet, Sam Wang even went so far as to call 1/3 of Republicans racists, and the remaining 2/3rds sympathizers and enablers. Despite Republicans’ objections to Wang’s involvement in the map selection process, the 13th member ignored those pleas and allowed Wang to influence the final map; one that ignores Republican voters and goes to great lengths to perpetuate the Democrat majority.