Big Shifts In 3rd District, West Deptford Staying Put

West Deptford isn't going anywhere, but Sunday’s unveiling of new legislative districts made for major shifts in the 3rd District and several neighboring districts.

The new-look 3rd shifts the district to the north and east, adding the Gloucester County towns of Glassboro, Franklin, Woodbury Heights and Newfield, while dropping the bulk of towns at the southern end of the district in Cumberland County, where only Bridgeton, Deerfield and Upper Deerfield remain in the 3rd.

The shift means current Assembly representatives John Burzichelli of Paulsboro and Celeste Riley of Bridgeton stay in the 3rd along with Senate President and West Deptford native Stephen Sweeney, one of the most powerful Democrats in the state.

However, it means that Domenick DiCicco, the Republican assemblyman from the 4th District and Franklin Township native, could now face a battle against a pair of entrenched Democrats in Riley and Burzichelli for his Assembly seat in November. DiCicco can only run in the 3rd District this year, according to the state Office of Legislative Services.

Several published reports, however, have indicated DiCicco and other legislators whose hometowns have been moved to new districts could opt to move into municipalities located in their current district in November re-election bids, if they so choose.

With the deadline for primary filings next Monday, though, a move back to the 4th for DiCicco seems unlikely to happen in time. DiCicco declined comment on the change to his home district on Monday.

Republicans in the 4th District decried moving DiCicco into the 3rd, which they said amounted to gerrymandering.

In Gloucester Township, which remains part of the 4th District under the new map, Republican Municipal Committee Chairman Ray Polidoro said it was possible DiCicco could’ve gone up against Sen. Fred Madden, who is also the Gloucester County Democratic Party chair, for the 4th District Senate seat this year.

"Their ultimate goal was to take out a very popular Republican," he said.

Meanwhile, the shifts in Gloucester County have delayed the efforts of the county Republican Party to recruit candidates for county and statewide office, Dave Ferrucci, the executive director of publicity and campaigns for the part, said Monday night.

“We’re in a bit of a scramble right now to get all these various seats filled,” he said.

Republicans could still decide to challenge the new map, which was adopted after it was selected as the best option of several proposals by nonpartisan commission member Alan Rosenthal, a Rutgers University political scientist who is a registered Democrat.

A judge added the Rutgers professor to the commission about a month ago when the five Democrats and five Republicans could not reach agreement.

Sean McCullen contributed to this report.