Yeah, designed specifically to counter the redness of Sussex county. Population size is important too, considering those towns probably have a population of 300,000-500,000, they weren't taking any chances. The entirety of Sussex is around 150,000. They wanted to blow us out of any chance of leaving a drop of red in Northern NJ.
Alpine is on the Hudson River; does the other end of the district reach the Delaware? I assume this situation will worsen as NJ loses more seats; the state is experiencing a real “brain drain” as many of the best and brightest flee.