By Amanda Gokee
NEW HAMPSHIRE BULLETIN
Gov. Chris Sununu signed two maps into law on Friday that will determine the voting districts for New Hampshire Senate and Executive Council races for the next 10 years if the maps withstand anticipated challenges in the courts.
Sununu asked the Legislature to do away with the dragon-shaped District 2 in the current Executive Council map, and Senate Bill 241, which he signed Friday, does that. But District 2 still “packs” Democrats together, including the Democratic-leaning towns of Keene, Concord, and Hanover. Districts 1, 4, and 5 all shift more Republican under the plan.
The Senate map signed into law on Friday could allow Republicans to establish a supermajority with 16 districts leaning Republican and eight Democratic, according to Dave Andrews, a data analyst for the Redistricting Data Hub, a nonpartisan organization that hosts redistricting data for free. He said the map was likely among the most gerrymandered in New Hampshire history.
Under the new Senate map, Districts 4, 5, 10, 13, 15, 20, 21, and 24 all lean Democratic, with the remaining districts leaning Republican.
Sununu has repeatedly urged lawmakers to draw a competitive congressional district map and vowed to veto a Republican-backed map that did not meet that criteria.
But Andrews said neither of the maps signed by Sununu on Friday are competitive. “They’re about as noncompetitive as you can get,” he said.
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