The Pew Charitable Trusts

The five Democrats and five Republicans tasked with redrawing New Jersey's political districts for the next 10 years reached an impasse on Sunday night, so it was up to the panel's lone nonpartisan representative - a political science professor at Rutgers University - to offer the last word.

When he did, it was state Democrats who scored a victory and Republican Governor Chris Christie who walked away with a significant setback.

Alan Rosenthal, who was appointed to the commission as a potential tiebreaker by the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, voted in favor of a Democratic proposal to spread minority voters out across more legislative districts. Republicans had proposed packing them into fewer districts, The New York Times reported .

Both sides contended that their plans would increase minority representation in the state legislature, which is now controlled by Democrats. The new districts, while more competitive than those approved 10 years ago, still seem likely to give Democrats an electoral advantage.

"The reality is that New Jersey is a Democratic state, a blue state and has been for a long time," Democratic Party Chairman John Wisniewski told The Wall Street Journal .

Christie had lobbied hard in support of the Republican proposal, The Journal noted. "For the first time in memory, the governor became personally involved in the final stretch of map-making, attending several of the daylong meetings that took place over the past week at the Heldrich hotel in New Brunswick," the paper reported.

Republicans still could challenge the commission's new map in court, though it was unclear whether they would.