Hudson County’s commissioner map is holding anti-organization Dems back

The Hudson County Democratic organization may be dominant across vast swaths of the county, but there’s one place the organization has struggled to get under its control: Downtown Jersey City.

Nearly two decades ago, an upstart candidate named Steve Fulop won a city council seat in the steadily gentrifying downtown-based Ward E. In 2013, those same downtown neighborhoods propelled Fulop to the mayor’s office; Fulop has since made nice with the party organization, but Ward E is now represented by an even more anti-machine councilman, James Solomon.

And yet, despite their victories at the local level, Jersey City progressives have struggled to win any kind of higher office, including a seat on the nine-member board of county commissioners. A big part of the reason for their lack of success is simple: Hudson County’s commissioner map.

In theory, Downtown Jersey City, which includes all of Ward E and parts of Wards C and F, has nearly enough residents for a county commissioner district on its own. The neighborhood has a population of around 73,000, just 7,000 short of the ideal district size.

But on the new commissioner map approved for this year’s elections, downtown is split among no fewer than four commissioner districts. (On the previous decade’s map, it was in three.) That means that downtown residents are a minority of the voting population in all four districts – and thus are unable to elect a county commissioner on their own.

That’s exactly what happened in the Democratic primary earlier this month, when off-the-line challengers came close in two races but won neither.

In the 4th district, which covers a chunk of downtown along with the nearby neighborhoods of Journal Square and the Heights, Commissioner Yraida Aponte-Lipski (D-Jersey City) beat Mamta Singh by 148 votes, 52%-48%. Next door in the 5th district, based in Hoboken and stretching to include most of the downtown Jersey City waterfront, Commissioner Anthony “Stick” Romano (D-Hoboken) defeated Ron Bautista by 235 votes, 53%-46%.

And in the 2nd district, Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-Jersey City) vanquished Adrian Ghainda 68%-31% in a seat that links pieces of downtown with most of the city’s West Side. (The final district that includes parts of downtown, Commissioner Jerry Walker’s 3rd district, was uncontested.)

In each case, the challengers won their district’s portion of Downtown Jersey City; the slate likely benefited from the support of Solomon, the downtown Ward E councilman, and neighboring Ward F Councilman Frank Gilmore. Because downtown voters are outnumbered in all three districts, however, the incumbents’ strong showings in their home neighborhoods were enough to overcome their downtown losses.

The results in the 2nd district are especially stark. O’Dea, who hails from the West Side, carried most of his home turf by margins of 60 points or more. But in the dozen or so downtown voting districts that were newly added to O’Dea’s district this year, Ghainda won 53%-46%.

Had they been unified in one district, downtown voters probably would have been able to beat the county Democratic organization. A hypothetical redrawn district that links most of downtown with the most challenger-friendly parts of the Heights would have produced a collective 10-point win for the off-the-line slate; other configurations, connecting the downtown core with various other neighborhoods or parts of Hoboken, would also likely lead to a progressive victory.

As anyone who has witnessed a redistricting process knows, sacrifices always need to be made in order to make a map workable. Some neighborhoods and towns will always get carved up, and since all three Jersey City-based commissioner incumbents live in other neighborhoods, Downtown Jersey City is a natural choice for the chopping block.

But it still shouldn’t be considered a coincidence that the members of the redistricting commission, who were appointed by the leaders of both county parties, decided to split downtown – the least organization-friendly part of the entire county – so aggressively.

As Jersey City grows and its demographics shift, anti-organization candidates may be able to find success even on the current map. Aponte-Lipski has now survived two close calls in a row, while Romano may soon be reaching the end of his tenure on the board; when their seats next come up in 2026, progressives will surely be ready to try again, with three additional years of population changes on their side.

For now, though, the Hudson Democratic organization will maintain its hold on all nine seats – a victory aided heavily by the carefully drawn map.