The House Map is Pretty Good
A few weeks ago, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) released preliminary maps of PA House and Senate districts for the next ten years. PA House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff touted a map of the proposed 84th district as an example of a Democratic gerrymander. However, the way the 84th district wraps around the 83rd is nothing more than a way to keep intact highly urban Williamsport. The proposed 83rd, 84th AND all surrounding districts are still solidly Republican in registration. This hardly fits the definition of a gerrymander, which is “manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent of creating undue advantage for a party.” To the contrary, the proposed House district map is a big improvement over the current map in that it reverses decades of partisan gerrymandering to create a more level playing field for PA legislative elections. Those corrections mean some incumbents will now be facing colleagues in primary elections. More Republican incumbents are affected because there are more Republicans elected and they primarily are seated in areas that have been losing population. Centre County is split, but this is not a bad thing, as the State College Area School District (SCASD) remains intact and would send two representatives to Harrisburg to advocate for SCASD’s needs.