Governor calls constitutional amendment 'a lot of work' as Democrats weigh counter-gerrymanders.

TRENTON, N.J. — Governor Mikie Sherrill said that New Jersey could redraw its congressional map if other states escalate redistricting fights. But she clarified that the constitutional amendment required would take until the next general election and lacks sufficient Democratic votes in the Assembly.

Sherrill told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on May 1 that New Jersey "has to be open" to redrawing its map, depending on how other states proceed. The remarks came two days after the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Voting Rights Act does not require states to create majority-Black congressional districts when no compelling interest justifies race-based map-drawing.

The governor has no formal role in New Jersey's redistricting process. The state Constitution assigns map-drawing authority to a 13-member bipartisan commission split evenly between Democratic and Republican appointees, with a tie-breaking chair selected by the justices of the state Supreme Court. State legislators created the commission through a constitutional amendment in 1990. Republicans controlled the commission during the 2001 and 2011 cycles and produced maps favoring their own incumbents, according to New Jersey League of Municipalities records. The 2022 commission voted on maps that had never been seen by the public, drawing criticism from good-government advocates.

Democrats currently hold nine of New Jersey's 12 House seats, with Republicans representing the 2nd, 4th and 7th districts. Political forecasters rate at least one Republican seat as vulnerable in November: Representative Tom Kean Jr., a Republican from Morris County, has not cast a vote or appeared publicly since March. His office has not explained his absence.

Sherrill's signal echoes a similar Democratic strategy to redraw maps in Republican-controlled states. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries named New Jersey as one of seven states where Democrats are "prepared to respond" to Republican gerrymanders. John Bisognano of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee confirmed the preparedness.

Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment in April allowing the General Assembly to redraw congressional districts if another state does so first; the conditional model would not take effect until 2028. California voters passed Proposition 50 in November to add six Democratic-leaning seats.

But New Jersey's constitutional barrier is higher than most states. Any change to the commission system requires amending the state Constitution, which requires either a three-fifths majority vote in both legislative chambers once, or a simple majority two years in a row, followed by voter approval at the next general election.

Democrats hold 25 of 40 Senate seats, which meets the three-fifths threshold, but with 46 of 80 Assembly seats, they are two votes short. Even if they introduced an amendment tomorrow and won every vote, the earliest voters could approve it is at the next general election, which would be this November if the Legislature acts to put the question on the ballot. A two-year simple-majority route would push ratification to November 2028.

Senate President Nicholas Scutari, a Democrat from Union County, previously dismissed mid-decade redistricting when Sherrill advisers floated the idea in December. "We're not in a position to do that," Scutari said then.

State Senator Andrew Zwicker, a Democrat from Somerset County, told Politico this week that he does not know "if the juice is worth the squeeze," responding to the constitutional amendment burden.

Opposition is not limited to legislative leadership. Representative LaMonica McIver, a Democrat whose Newark-based 10th District is a majority-minority seat, opposes redrawing the map. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat serving the 12th District, which includes Trenton and Princeton, also opposes the idea. McIver represents a majority-minority districts created under the Voting Rights Act. That's the same federal law the Supreme Court recently said does not require states to create such districts when no compelling interest exists.

State Senator Declan O'Scanlon, a Republican from Monmouth County, said he hopes New Jersey does not follow other states down the redistricting path. NJ GOP Chairwoman Christine Hanlon called Sherrill's signal "partisanship, not leadership."

Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University who directs the university's public opinion polling, said aggressive Democratic gerrymandering could trigger "Democrat-on-Democrat violence" over minority representation. The state's current map includes majority-minority districts in the 8th and 10th, seats held by Democrats Robert Menendez Jr. and McIver. Combining or splitting districts to create additional Democratic-leaning seats could pit urban Black and Hispanic incumbents against suburban white Democrats, Cassino said.

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Sources 

• New Jersey Monitor (May 2, 2026)

• Politico NJ Playbook (May 4, 2026)

• Politico NJ (December 2, 2025)

• NJ.com (May 2, 2026)

• NJ 101.5 (May 2, 2026)

• ABC News (May 2, 2026)

• Ballotpedia (August 28, 2025)

• Democracy Docket (May 3, 2026)

• NJ.gov, Redistricting Portal

• NJ Congressional Redistricting Commission, Membership List

• New Jersey League of Municipalities, Redistricting History Document

• SCOTUSblog (April 29, 2026)

• U.S. Supreme Court, Louisiana v. Callais (April 29, 2026)

• Patch (May 2, 2026)

• The Digest (May 2, 2026)

• Ballotpedia, New Jersey 2026 Primary Elections

• Cook Political Report

• Federal Election Commission, Campaign Filings