New Jersey

Rothman did move his residence, but, as you note, he chose to run in the district where his political base was. That's a reasonable choice.

I wasn't suggesting that Pascrell should have moved. The hard fact is that the redistricting created one district that included the political bases of two excellent liberal Democrats. My argument was that Pascrell, who was 75 at the time of the primary, should have stepped aside in favor of Rothman, who was 59. They were of equal seniority (both entered Congress in 1997), but Rothman would have more opportunity to build up and use additional seniority.

Yes, it's too bad that seniority is such a big deal in Congress. That's the way it is, though. We need progressives to move into more committee chairships (when the Dems are in the majority) and other important positions.