LRC House and Senate Proposed Redistricting
To Members of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission: I am writing to comment on the LRC proposed redistricting maps for the PA House and Senate. The LRC process and maps are a vast improvement over the old method of having legislators (usually only the majority party) draw their own districts. Voters should choose their lawmakers, not the other way around. The proposed maps reverse decades of partisan gerrymandering by both parties. They are a big, important step toward a truly level playing field for PA legislative elections. The LRC proposed House map is a big improvement over current districts gerrymandered for Republican advantage. Districts are more representative of areas that are economically and politically related. Nonpartisan analyses of the map show it still favors Republicans, but is less partisan than the current districts. In my solidly conservative area (Columbia County), the proposed district is still solidly conservative and likely to elect a Republican. The LRC proposed Senate map is an improvement over the currently gerrymandered districts, but less so. Many districts in northern, southwestern and central PA are underpopulated, too far below the average population for all districts. Too many districts in southeastern PA are overpopulated, larger than average. This is biased toward rural areas and toward Republicans. It doesn’t reflect the population losses in rural areas, and population gains in urban and suburban areas, that were revealed in the 2020 Census. It also unfairly protects too many incumbents. (I say this as a long-time resident of rural PA.) The LRC membership and process, while bipartisan and much better than the previous system, still gives legislators too much power. Four of the five commissioners are partisan caucus leaders. The districts in the proposed maps too often reflect the districts drawn ten years ago, thus protecting incumbents, not starting from scratch to draw genuinely representative districts. More citizen representation on the LRC is needed. Pennsylvania citizens also deserve to know more about how the proposed district lines were drawn – more transparency is needed.