After the Census of 2010 New Jersey
was redistricted, district Seven was one district, which was very altered. For
the most part district Seven is comprised of town like Summit, Millburn, Short
Hills, Westfield, Basking Ridge and etc., which are all middle to upper class,
predominately white towns. Summit itself has an average of $109,772
per household (Summit, New Jersey 2012). However, there is one outlying
city within the district: Union. Union is a predominately Black and 84.7 % Hispanic
and is much less wealthy than the other towns in the district with an average
of $70,440 per household (Union City, New Jersey 2012).
Leonard Lance himself is a moderate
republican, and differs from the rest of the part on issues such as abortion
(Congressman Leonard Lance 2012). However, Lance is very fiscally conservative.
While his stance on social issues might be in line with the more democratic
people of Union, his stance on government spending certainly does not. Lance is
a huge advocate for cutting government spending, and usually the first thing to
cut when looking at government spending is welfare or other programs which
benefit the poor (Congressman Leonard Lance 2012).
Based on the socio-economic makeup
of the city of union, voters in the city vote democratic (Union
City, New Jersey 2012). However voters in Union have found themselves in
the minority of the district because of towns like Summit, Millburn, short
Hills, Westfield, Basking Ridge and etc. who all support a more fiscally
conservative and republican representative. Lance doesn’t need Union’s vote to
get re-elected which means he is not going to have those peoples interests in
mind when he enacts laws and votes on policy. When these people find themselves
being unrepresented it gives them no incentive to vote because they don’t have
a chance to win in district Seven. This is a problem because it makes the
people of Union more marginalized, less informed and less politically active--starting
a perpetual cycle that can only be broken by another census in 2020.
Out of Union County only Union,
Summit, Westfield and Clarke are represented in district seven however one
district over in district 10 there are cities which better match Union like
Linden, Elizabeth, East Orange and etc. It would make more sense for Union to
move to district 10 where the demographic is more similar to them. Politicians
would be more concerned about issues, which the people of Union are most concerned
about like health care, social security, and small business aide. Democrat
Donald Payne Jr. represents district 10 and is pro universal healthcare, wants
to increase social security (Congressman Donald M. Payne Jr 2012).
However, the question is, does Union
want to be a part of a district that will aide them with the issues that are
most prevalent to the people who live in the city or be a part of a much
wealthier district. Representative Donald M. Payne Jr. is more aligned with the
people of Unions wants however he has only recently been elected and does not
have the ability to get the same types of benefits brought to district ten. The
people of Union stand to get more benefits by staying in a district in which
they are under represented so it wouldn’t necessarily be a good decision to
leave district seven. Representative Lance sits on the energy and commerce
committee which means that district seven gets more kick backs from interstate
and state commerce because their congressman is on a committee, this will increase
the revenue of the Union as well as other towns in the district (Congressman
Leonard Lance 2012). Would the people of Union rather be in a district,
which gets them more revenue and less representation, or a district, which gets
less revenue and more representation?
Congressman Donald M. Payne Jr. January 1,
2012. Accessed September 25, 2014. http://payne.house.gov/issues.
United States Census Bureau. Accessed September
25, 2014. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34/3474630.html.
Congressman Leonard Lance. January 1, 2012.
Accessed September 25, 2014. http://lance.house.gov/.
Summit, New Jersey. Accessed September 25,
2014. http://www.city-data.com/city/Summit-New-Jersey.html.
Union City, New Jersey. Accessed September 25,
2014. http://www.city-data.com/city/Union-City-New-Jersey.html.
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