New Hampshire Court Adopts New Congressional Map
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the New Hampshire Supreme Court adopted a new congressional map after lawmakers failed to draw new districts. The Republican-controlled Legislature first passed a new map in November 2021 that would have radically changed the state’s two districts for the first time in over a hundred years. Gov. Chris Sununu (R) vetoed that map and all iterations that came after. Most recently, the Legislature passed a map on May 26 that Sununu vetoed once again.
New Hampshire voters sued in March when it became clear that the redistricting process had reached a stalemate. The lawsuit argued that the state was left with two malapportioned districts drawn with 2010 census data and that the court must step in. The New Hampshire Supreme Court took control of the process, appointed a special master to draw a fair map and gave the Legislature until May 26 to agree on a map. On May 27, absent any enacted map, the special master released his proposed plan following the court’s order to create a “least-change map.” The enacted map maintains much of the old districts, moving five towns (Albany, Campton, Jackson, New Hampton and Sandwich) and roughly 9,000 individuals from the 1st Congressional District to the 2nd Congressional District, to achieve a population deviation between the two districts of only one person.
New Hampshire is the final state to adopt a new congressional map, with all 50 states now complete with congressional redistricting.
Read the order and the report and plan of the special master here.