New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday he would reject it congress map approved by his own party in the state legislature, which aggressively attacked Democrat Chris Pappas making his district more Republican.
Sununu was critical of an earlier draft of the map, and after no notable changes were made to the legislature, he announced on Thursday that he would veto it.
“The proposed Congressional District Redistribution Map is not in the best interest of New Hampshire and I will veto it as soon as it reaches my desk. The people of this state are counting on us to do better,” he said in a statement. press release.
The map would have put Pappas, a prime target for House Republicans in recent cycles, in a much fuller GOP district by replacing Democratic cities with Republican-leaning cities. It would also have made the seat of Democratic Congresswoman Annie Kuster more democratic.
The Republican governor’s main objection to the map is that he wants the two seats in Congress to be at stake, rather than just a secure Democratic seat and a secure Republican seat.
“I never think anyone should look at a map for the next election, that’s naive,” Sununu said. WMUR. “The idea of always keeping these seats at stake keeps what we already have, [which] it is a very committed electorate of voters, it keeps them even more committed. “
Sununu’s decision sets him apart from other governors of either party who have tried to bolster his party’s advantage by redistributing districts. Republicans from other states who are still redrawing the lines of Congress have aggressively drawn partisan maps to create more GOP gains. Only three more states need to complete the redistribution of congressional districts: Louisiana, Missouri and Florida.
Republican state senators in Missouri are in a deadlock over whether to push for a map that maintains the status quo or strengthen a Republican-leaning seat. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joined the debate over redistributing districts in his state in February by proposing a map that would cut two districts with large black populations. He has said he would veto a compromise map approved by the Republican-led legislature.
The fourth-quarter momentum for state Republicans to be more aggressive with district redistribution comes at the end of a cycle of redistricts that has favored Democrats so far. There are 170 Democratic leaning seats in the 46 states that have completed the redrawing process, according to data analyzed from official maps in Dave’s redistricting application. This is a net gain of 11 seats compared to the performance of the maps of the last decade in these states.
There are 151 Republican reclining seats projected so far in the cycle, below the 152 maps of the last decade in those states. Competitive seats experienced the largest decline, with 70 on maps completed this cycle and 81 based on the last decade of maps.
In New Hampshire, Republicans have small majorities in the House and Senate and cannot override Sununu’s veto.
In a statement on Thursday, Pappas welcomed Sununu’s impending veto.
“For more than 100 years, our districts have remained virtually unchanged, and in recent decades both districts have been among the most competitive in the country. New Hampshire voters are best served by this,” he wrote.
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