Codey, Democrats Look Forward to Representing Madison, Other Morris County Communities

While Sen. Richard Codey (D-Roseland) will now reach into Morris County under the new state assembly district map, the former governor will let go of several Essex County communities—including his hometown of Orange.

"I’m disappointed to lose Orange," Codey said Monday. "It’s a place where I was born and raised. It really shaped a lot of my success. I’m thrilled to keep West Orange, Livingston, The Caldwells, and I’m looking forward to making some new friends in Morris County."

The , which was unveiled Sunday, moves Madison and Chatham Township from the 21st to the 27th district, represented by Codey, Assemblyman John McKeon (D-West Orange and Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-South Orange).

"If I could describe it in one word: Wonderful," said Lewis J. Candura Sr., chairman of the Morris County Democratic Committee.

"For the past eight years, I have been dealing with 15 conservative Republican legislators, and for six of the past 10 years, all males. This is going to change the complexion of Morris County politics."

The Morris County communities of East Hanover, Hanover, Florham Park and Harding will also join the district, which also includes the Essex County municipalities of Caldwell, Livingston, Essex Fells, Maplewood, Roseland, South Orange, West Orange and newcomer Millburn.

The district loses West Caldwell, North Caldwell, Fairfield, Newark and Orange.

"I'm sad to lose some of the communities that are no longer in the district, but the core remains and I'm excited about the opportunity to serve the Morris communities," McKeon said.

McKeon said the Morris County municipalities now in the district are similar to those like West Caldwell, North Caldwell and Fairfield and he also compared newcomer Millburn to Livingston.

"I'm all for continuity," McKeon said. "Over the last 10 years, we've built up a nice continuity with the communities we've served. We're going to lose that with those communities that are no longer in the district. But we have an experienced team that's going to provide that same level of service and build that continuity with the new communities of our district."

Every 10 years, after the U.S. Census provides new population data, the state must re-draw the boundaries of the assembly districts to keep the population approximately equal.

The redistricting, according to Candura, provides better balance for Madison.

"Madison is a great, great town and deserves balanced representation," Candura said. "Redistricting is important because voters will see that Democrats now have a real chance to possibly win, and independents won’t see it as a wasted vote. There is pressure at every level of government in Madison where the GOP dominates. It’s a different story now."

Codey considered the new map "fairly balanced" and looked forward to reaching into Morris County.

"They are suburban towns that are somewhat leaning Republican," Codey said. "I'm not afraid of Republicans, I can assure you. Political labels don't mean anything to me when you're representing the people."

Chip Robinson, executive chairman of the Morris County Democratic Committee, was also pleased that the redistricting will provide the county with Democratic representation.

"I certainly think you're going to see very competitive local races in the eastern part of the county there's already, just based on the number of calls," he said. "There's a lot of enthusiasm among party members because of what happened. The county will still be perceived as Republican, but I certainly think there will be a lot more people open to Democrats."

But John Sette, chairman of the Morris County Republican Committee, said Morris would remain "100 percent Republican for municipal and county."

"You can tell my friend at the Democratic Committee not to worry. They went from absolutely no shot to absolutely no shot," Sette said. "Every year, they tell us this is their year. I'll believe it when I see it."

Stuart Chirls, Louis Hochman and John Celock contributed to this story.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Lewis J. Candura Sr. was the chairman of Madison's Morris County Democratic Committee.