By Patrick Adrian
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — The proposed redistricting plan for the New Hampshire House would give only one Sullivan County community its own state representative and combine communities into districts that could pose new challenges to representation and campaigning, according to some local legislators.
The House Special Committee on Redistricting approved a plan for Sullivan County that would retain 13 districts but significantly reshape them, possibly to the dismay of communities like Claremont and Charlestown which have had their own town-elected representatives for the last 10 years.
The plan, drawn by the committee’s Democrats and backed with bipartisan support, also joins Charlestown and Newport in the same district, despite the two towns being 21 miles apart and physically separated by Claremont.
Claremont meanwhile would no longer have its own representatives, reportedly due to a drop in its population between the 2010 and 2020 U.S. censuses.
For the last decade Claremont has had four city-elected representatives, one for each of the city’s three wards and one at-large representative.
Under the new proposal, Claremont voters would share one district with Croydon that holds three representative seats and a second “floterial,” or multi-town district, with two representatives serving nine communities including Acworth, Claremont, Croydon, Goshen, Langdon, Lempster, Springfield, Sunapee, and Washington..
“Unfortunately, because of Claremont’s population drop, it wasn’t an option for Claremont to still be its own entity,” said Rep. Steven Smith, a Charlestown Republican, who served as vice-chair on the House Special Committee on Redistricting.
The committee was tasked to map districts for a House legislature containing 400 seats. Each district had to be confined to a single county and represent as close to 3,444 residents as possible.
Smith said his proposed plan had kept Claremont as its own district and retained Charlestown’s representative. However, the committee backed the Democrats’ plan, whose districts had smaller deviations from the 3,444 residents per district requirement, while worrying that the GOP plan would deviate too far outside the federal government’s limit.
Smith said that Claremont saw a significant population drop between the 2010 and 2020 U.S. Census, particularly in one of its wards, resulting in deviations of 6 percent per ward. The Democrats’ plan only produced deviations of 3 percent per district.
Grantham, the only Sullivan County community to still have its own state representative, was found by the 2020 U.S. Census to have a population of 3,404 residents, which was close to the target number.
Rep. John Cloutier, a Claremont Democrat currently serving his 15 term in the state legislature, said these new districts are “disappointing” due to the lack of a representative for Claremont.
Additionally, the size and design of these districts will be much harder to satisfactorily represent, according to Cloutier.
“In New Hampshire we are part-time legislators,” Cloutier told the Eagle Times. “Representing constituents can be difficult. [Taking on additional communities] makes it even more difficult for a working person to properly represent one’s constituents.”
Cloutier, who has historically enjoyed strong bipartisan support in Claremont, has long prioritized being available to residents. Additionally, he adheres to more personal and communicative campaigning traditions such as door-to-door canvassing.
But representing Croydon, a very rural town of approximately 764 people, in a similar fashion would pose a challenge, Cloutier said. Besides being a staunchly conservative town, houses are spread out and spaced from one another, making it less conducive to door-to-door canvassing.
These larger districts will also require larger distributions of campaign signs and literature, ultimately driving up campaign costs, Cloutier said, who worries that elections will increasingly favor wealthier candidates.
Rep. Gary Merchant, a Claremont Democrat, said he worries about the poor matching of communities in this plan.
“Claremont and Croydon are like oil and water,” Merchant said, who cited differences ranging from economics and demographics to infrastructure.
One clear example is the issue of education funding.
The Claremont School District has a $36.8 million operating budget and a high percentage of students identified with additional learning needs. The Croydon School District owns a single one-room schoolhouse serving about 30 students in grades K-4 and offers school choice to students in grades 5-12.
Merchant said he would prefer a House districting plan that gives each town in the county at least one state representative.
Smith said he expects Claremont to be less impacted by the redistricting than Croydon because of Claremont’s population advantage.
To Smith’s point, from 2002 to 2012 Claremont shared a district with Unity and Lempster that contained five seats. The representatives regularly came from Claremont.
But Cloutier recalled Unity and Lempster being unhappy with the situation and sometimes resulted in strained relationships between the communities.
Charlestown and Newport will also encounter dramatically reshaped districts.
Charlestown currently has two representatives — one specifically representing Charlestown and one floterial district in which Charlestown is the largest community.
Under the new plan, Charlestown would select four representatives from two districts. One district, with three seats, will comprise Charlestown, Newport, and Unity. A second district, with one seat, will comprise Charlestown, Cornish, Newport, Plainfield, and Unity.
Smith said he does not expect Charlestown residents to find the pairing with Newport problematic, as the towns have similar demographics and priorities.
Smith, whose district includes Charlestown and five other communities, said he would much prefer campaigning between three towns instead of six.
But Smith reiterated that this plan was not driven by politics but difficult math, complicated by Sullivan County’s very rural and sparsely populated characteristics.
Cloutier said he similarly heard from committee members that Sullivan County had been the most difficult county to map.
Smith, like Merchant, said he would prefer a change in the districting approach that provided town-designated representatives and more localized districts. Smith would also like to remove the single-county requirement to drawing districts, noting that two communities like Alstead and Langdon would be an ideal pairing given their proximity and demographics, if not for being separated by a county line.
The New Hampshire House is expected to vote on the plan in early January. If approved, the plan would head to the State Senate for a vote and then to Gov. Chris Sununu for approval.
Cloutier said he is asking his constituents for their feedback about the plan, which will influence his vote or whether he attempts to propose any amendments.
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