RAHWAY - The biggest news of Tuesday night's CD-7 debate occurred before the debate began.

That's when Nicholas Scutari, the Senate President, said the following:

"We're taking a real hard look at the possibility of redistricting in advance of the (next) mid-decade redistricting."

The crowd cheered.

Redistricting tends to be rather wonky, but not anymore, not now.

Texas began the redistricting wars a few years ago and a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for "red" states to eliminate districts originally drawn to increase minority representation.

Scutari, who is also the Union County Democratic Chair, called the ruling "beyond shameful" and a "green light" for MAGA extremists.

He said New Jersey can not sit on the sidelines and must join the fight.

"We're having active discussions (about redistricting) and I'm in favor of that," Scutari said.

So, what can the state do?

The House map is now 9-3 in favor of Democrats.

One change is an obvious one. Go back to the pre-2020 map that was 10-2 in favor of the Dems. That would mean restoring CD-7 to what it was when Tom Malinowski won the district in 2018 and 2020.

Beyond that, one would have to get very creative.

The other two Republican held districts are the Second (Jeff Van Drew) and the Fourth (Chris Smith). They do border each other, but combining them into one GOP district would take a lot of juggling.

As for the debate, which was sponsored by the NJ Globe and Rider University, the first question was about Tom Kean Jr., who has been absent from Washington for more than two months now.

Candidate Brian Varela gave a blunt answer.

"There's not a lot that's really changed from then to now," he said.

His point was obvious. Rep. Kean has never been all that good in communicating with the public in the first place.

This was the second debate among Rebecca Bennett, Tina Shah, Michael Roth and Varela in two nights. There was a League of Women Voters debate on Monday.
The June 2 primary is now less than three weeks away and one thing - surprisingly perhaps - seems odd. This has been a very polite campaign.

Up to now, there have been just about no attacks - either at the debates or in mailings to voters, all of which have been positive about whoever is sending them..

For the most part, there is general agreement on just about all issues.

You have to wonder when, and if, that will change.

Still, there was some disagreement. The candidates were asked to raise their hands if they thought there is "intelligent life" elsewhere in the universe.

All raised their hands except for Shah.

She also joked about how much "intelligent life" there is on earth.