N.J. Democrats thinking about a Van Drew vs. Smith primary under a new map

If New Jersey moves forward on drawing new congressional districts for the 2028 election, Democrats are talking about creating a solidly Republican seat that would force Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) and Christopher Smith (R-Manchester) into a primary fight and then creating a new Democratic district somewhere else in the state.

“Anything is on the table, including that,” said Senate President Nicholas Scutari.  “If we’re going to do this, that has got to be a possibility.”

Three other influential Democrats, both speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that discussions are underway about drawing a district that would put Smith and Van Drew together.

Joining Van Drew’s home in Cape May County and Smith’s home in Ocean County into one district is complicated, since it would have to include the coastal parts of Atlantic County as a connector. Municipalities can be split in congressional redistricting, so such a map is doable, but it would likely be less clean and compact than a map that keeps Smith’s seat as a Republican vote-sink and shifts Van Drew into a new Democratic-leaning district.

Still, Democrats may prefer their chances of flipping an open seat, with Van Drew and Smith competing for a combined district, to unseating one of the congressmen themselves.

“If Democrats are serious about getting New Jersey down to a single Republican House seat, then one logical option would be to let Van Drew and Smith slug it out between them, as Bill Pascrell and Steve Rothman were forced to,” said Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “Or Brian Stack and Nick Sacco, for that matter.”

Scutari recently emerged as a proponent of a new congressional map after watching red states redraw lines in a bid to protect their House majority. So too has Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who told CNN on May 1 that she was open to mid-decade redistricting, though any new district lines would require a statewide referendum on a constitutional amendment, and wouldn’t come until 2028 at the earliest.

“We can’t just let states like Texas [redraw maps] when New Jersey can be in that fight,” Scutari said on Tuesday at the start of a Democratic congressional debate in the 7th district. “We’re having active discussions, and I’m in favor of that.”

Scutari told the New Jersey Globe that his goal would be to secure a map that gives Democrats 11 of the state’s 12 House seats.  Outside of South Jersey, the other critical piece of that plan would involve shoring up the 7th district, where Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) is in a tough re-election fight.  It would not be too difficult to shift a few towns to either doom Kean or protect his Democratic successor in 2028.

Democrats may also seek to shore up Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon)’s 9th district, which narrowly voted for Donald Trump in 2024, though Republicans face increasingly long odds of flipping it this year.

As for Central and South Jersey, Rasmussen said he thinks it might make sense for Democrats to consider merging Smith and Van Drew into the same district.

“It would be consistent with the longer-term trend of new maps having to account for the southernmost counties bleeding population,” he said.  “Plus, Van Drew’s district already runs all the way into Ocean County, with Atlantic City along the way.”

Redrawing the NJ-2 to beat Van Drew in a general election is also possible, especially if he were to pick up Democratic strongholds like Cherry Hill or Voorhees in Camden County.  But any blue towns he picks up would likely have to come out of districts held by Democratic incumbents like Donald Norcross (D-Camden) or Herb Conaway (D-Delran), so mapmakers would have to be careful.

While still hypothetical for now, a Smith-Van Drew fight – a matchup between two tenacious campaigners who both graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Perth Amboy in 1971 – would not be the first time two New Jersey incumbents from the same party have had to run against each other.

In 2012, New Jersey lost a seat in House reapportionment, and the new GOP-drawn congressional map forced Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) and Steve Rothman (D-Englewood) into the same seat. Rothman represented more of the new district, but Pascrell won.

Smith has also had to deal with map-related woes a number of times during his long congressional career.

After Smith defeated Abscam-damaged Rep. Frank Thompson (D-Trenton) in 1980, Democrats drew a new map specifically designed to make him a one-term congressman. The new 4th district removed his home of Old Bridge, added new territory friendly to his Democratic foe Joe Merlino, and stretched all the way down to Pennsauken in Camden County – and Smith won anyway.

That map was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court after just one cycle, but Smith has still had to adjust to many different districts over the decades. After the 2020 Census, the Democratic-drawn map actually placed Smith’s hometown of Hamilton into then-Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown)’s 3rd district; rather than run against Kim in what became a Democratic-leaning seat, Smith moved to Manchester and ran for re-election in the 4th district.

Given that history, Smith told the New Jersey Globe that he’s ready for whatever new district Democrats might try to throw at him.

“If they want to do it, bring it on, because I’m going to be running again next time, and I’m going to fight like hell,” he said.

Van Drew, too, expressed confidence about his chances: “Whatever damn district they draw up for me, I’ll compete in that district.”

Joey Fox contributed to reporting in this story.