Overrepresented and underrepresented areas in Congress

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Once the 2012 redistricting goes into effect, Boston will have a lopsided representation in Congress. Of the state's 9 congressional districts, 4 congressman will be elected from either Boston or a town immediately bordering it. A fifth will live in Medford, which is maybe a 2-minute drive from Boston on I-93.

There will be absolutely no representation for Metrowest (currently split between 5 districts) or any community south of Boston (split into 4).

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

If we're talking about New Jersey, the Union/Middlesex area is under-represented. You could make an argument that, in a "logical draw" based on communities of interest, the area would have its own seat. Middlesex specifically got the shaft in the 1990 re-draw when New Jersey last lost a seat -- the Middlesex district wound up being the one eliminated (at the expense of shoring up Pallone, who had a marginal district in the 1980s). Ocean County is sort of slighted by virtue of being split between two CDs.

There's only one congressman from Monmouth, and that's Frank Pallone. But he hardly represents any of it -- it's pretty diluted between Smith, Pallone, and Holt. There are some really weird lines at play in NJ. You can't quite say Monmouth is underrepresented, but I doubt Pallone truly acts like he's representing the county.

Mercer is overrepresented, I guess, at the expense of Middlesex.