New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell Issues Statement on Redistricting Plan

New Bedford, Massachusetts – New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell responded this evening to the revised Congressional redistricting plan presented Monday by legislative leaders in Boston: 

“The redistricting committee’s approach was fundamentally flawed in that it framed the issue narrowly as one of self-determination only for Fall River, whose own elected officials took conflicting positions.

The issue rather was about the interests of all the residents of Southeastern Massachusetts, which is an economically and culturally distinct region of the Commonwealth from which no member of Congress has been elected in nearly a century.

Given New Bedford’s central role in the region and its extensive federal interests, there is widespread agreement here that a district that excludes our nearest city, as well some of our own suburbs, will inevitably make it harder for the region’s voice to be heard in Washington.”     -- Mayor Jon Mitchell