Do your elected representatives care what you think? With maps currently proposed for NH’s House, Senate and Executive Council Districts, elected representatives won’t have to care. These maps keep districts safe for incumbents. No competition, no need to care! NH was almost evenly divided in the 2020 presidential election: 49.8% Democratic, 50.2% Republican. Yet 15 of the proposed Senate districts heavily favor Republicans. Only 9 Senate districts lean Democratic. Even more extreme, the Executive Council map favors Republicans 4 to Democrats 1.
Gov. Sununu admitted on NHPR that the current Executive Council map, with its snake-like District 2, is visibly gerrymandered. He promised to veto any map that unbalanced. But the proposed new Executive Council map has made no changes! When a district is “safe” for candidates of a given party, debate is not important. Ideas don’t get scrutinized, candidates don’t get vetted, voters realize their votes hardly matter. Less voter engagement, no competition between candidates, less competition of ideas, who will care about “democratic values?” And once a candidate is safely elected, there’s less reason to listen to constituent concerns.
The only competition to expect, when districts have a clearly dominant party, is competition in the primaries between mainstream and extreme candidates. We can expect greater polarization, more leaders elected from the extreme right or extreme left. We will have less possibility of collaboration or compromise. Please urge your lawmakers to reject these rigged maps. Insist on new districts, fostering healthy competition.
Susan Richman
Durham