The new leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee comes from one of the most rural districts in the nation,
according to The Washington Post.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi picked New Mexico
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan to succeed New York Rep. Steve Israel for the next two years, starting in January.
Lujan’s Santa-Fe based 3rd congressional district is currently the fourth-largest Democrat district in the nation with just over 45,000 square miles, the Post says citing the Census Bureau.
His district comes in behind Nevada's 4th (50,997 square miles), Arizona's 1st (55,000) and Texas's 23rd (58,000). But Lujan’s district is moving into second place in January after Democrats lost two of those seats earlier this month, namely Nevada and Texas.
The Post noted that since House seats all roughly represent the same number of voters that means that these four districts are among the least population-dense districts in the country.
“Which means they're more rural,” says the Post’s Philip Bump. “Which means they're more likely to vote Republican.”
The largest Republican district is simply called Alaska while the fifth-largest GOP district is New Mexico’s 2nd, next to Lujan’s domain, and 25,000 square miles bigger.
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