Latino, women’s groups commend Matos nomination to redistricting commission

Following today’s appointment of Laura Matos to be a Democratic member of the Legislative Apportionment Commission, making her the only Hispanic member of the commission and one of three women, two Latino interest groups and the National Organization for Women of New Jersey (NOW-NJ) released statements praising state Democratic chairman LeRoy Jones, Jr.’s choice.

“Laura Matos is a prominent member of our community and has a long, successful track record in state politics and public affairs,” Christian Estevez, the president of the Latino Action Network, said in a statement. “While this appointment is a good first step toward representation, it is critical that in the coming weeks the commission works closely with advocates to develop a set of state legislative maps that properly represent our state and our community and build on the gains we made during the last legislative reapportionment process.”

Latina Civic, an advocacy group that lists Matos as one of its co-founders, also lauded the addition of Latina representation to the commission.

“The recognition of and action towards remedying the lack of Latino representation among the voting members of this committee takes a big step in restoring the New Jersey Democratic Party’s commitment to a more accurately representative process,” the group said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing the impacts Laura and the rest of the New Jersey Legislative Apportionment Commission create for all Latinos in New Jersey.”

While there were already two women on the commission – Democratic commissioner Diane Testa and Republican commissioner Linda DuBois – NOW-NJ highlighted how Matos’ appointment brings the commission closer to gender parity.

“The appointment of Ms. Matos … heeds our earlier calls (in May 2020 and October 2021) to increase gender parity and minority representation on the commission,” NOW-NJ said in a statement. “She will be an invaluable and extremely qualified addition to the Democratic delegation.”

Matos will replace former Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) on the commission; in an unexpected move this morning, Jones acted on suspicions that Sweeney might undermine the Democratic delegation and removed the former Senate leader from the commission.