UPDATED: Coyle Plans to Seek Re-Election in the 16th District Even If She Must Move

This fall, District 16 Assemblywoman Denise Coyle (R-Bernards) said she will seek re-election in her home district, even if it means moving from her home.

Coyle, a former Somerset County Freeholder and state assemblywoman since 2008, lives in Bernards Township, which was shifted to the 21st district under the .

Coyle said on Monday she would remain a Republican candidate for assembly, but did not have details on where she would seek election.

On Thursday afternoon, Coyle confirmed a report that she intends to shift her residency to remain in the 16th district, where she would be running alongside GOP incumbents Assemblyman Peter Biondi (R-Hillsborough)  and state Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-Branchburg).

However, at the same time she said she had no idea of a timeline on when she might move to stay within the 16th district.

The 21st district is represented by Sen. Thomas Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) and Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Summit).

Union County Republicans were expected to endorse Bramnick and Munoz for re-election during a county convention Thursday night. The Somerset County Republicans will hold their convention on the same night.

Union County Republicans have dominated the 21st district for the last decade, with Assembly candidates from outside of Union County not given much consideration during the special election conventions, which elected Bramnick and Munoz to vacant seats in 2003 and 2009.

Non-Union County challengers in the 2003 and 2009 GOP primaries also fared poorly against Bramnick, Munoz and Munoz' late husband, Eric, who preceded her in the Assembly.

The 21st district, which spans Union, Somerset and Morris counties, now includes Chatham Borough, Bernards, Berkeley Heights, Cranford, Far Hills, Garwood, Kenilworth, Long Hill, Mountainside, New Providence, Roselle Park, Springfield, Summit, Warren, Watchung and Westfield.

“The district is still fairly Republican,” Bramnick said, stressing he represents all residents. “You are picking up Far Hills, Bernards and Kenilworth.”

Bramnick said that while the new map has him in a Republican district for the next decade, he sees other changes with the town movement.

“What happens when you’re a legislator is the towns are your family, you become close to the mayors and council members,” he said. “It is my job to represent who I am assigned to represent.”

Coyle said on Monday she the recarving of Somerset County from three assembly districts into six "harms Somerset County significantly."

However, Somerset County Democrat Chairwoman Peggy Schaffer said her party is already benefiting from the redistricting with a larger pool of candidates from the shift of the 16th district.

"We're very excited about it," she said. "The 16th district now leans toward the Democrats. This changes the whole landscape. We could never be competitive in this district. Now, all of a sudden, we now have more candidates than we know what to do with."

Somerset County has 300,000 residents, while other counties with four or five times greater population would have fewer districts under the new plan, Coyle said. "I wonder as to the legality," Coyle said on Monday.

Last Sunday, state officials were left surveying the changed political landscape after Rutgers public policy professor Alan Rosenthal chose the Democrats' plan for redistricting to reflect a loss in population posted in the 2010 census.

Last week, Bernards Township officials said they will seek to have the U.S. Census Bureau investigate whether the in the census. Township demographer William Draper said he believed the census did not count about 1,600 Bernards residents in homes with a Far Hills zip code.

John Celock contributed to this story.