A Fair Congressional Plan for Pennsylvania
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I'm Mark, and I am officially submitting my proposal for Pennsylvania's 17 congressional districts. I explain these districts in further detail on the Public Comment Portal: https://portal.pennsylvania-mapping.org/ These districts have been drawn to meet the relevant criteria for remapping our districts. They are compact, avoid splitting communities of interest and towns where possible, and meet the required population deviation standards. According to Dave's Redistricting App (DRA), this map has an overall deviation of 0.05%, well within what is legal. In addition to meeting relevant criteria, this map is also competitive and representative of our state. In 2016, Donald Trump would have carried 9 of these districts compared to Hillary Clinton carrying 8. In 2020, Joe Biden would have carried 10 districts compared to Donald Trump's 7. This reflects Pennsylvania's status as being a swing state, with the statewide winner carrying the most districts. In addition, DRA lists six districts as being very competitive, compared to six Republican and five Democratic districts. This means that both parties can win the majority of PA's delegation to Washington, provided they have strong candidates who can win. I would like to bring attention to my proposed 10th district, which includes Dauphin County, Harrisburg's suburbs in Cumberland County, as well as York and Lancaster in their respective counties. As a resident of Lancaster City, I feel a close cultural tie to York and Harrisburg: I call the three the 'Susquehanna Cities'. We represent an medium-sized urban/suburban area that is sandwiched between the vast rural expanse of Central PA to our west, and the heavily urban Philadelphia Metro to our east. In addition, our three cities lean Democratic, despite us all being represented by Republicans in Washington. This is due to the fact that we are split between two districts, the 10th and 11th, both of which include rural areas that are not at all culturally similar to our three cities. Given the fact that districts should be drawn to include areas that are culturally bound, and the fact that PA is losing a congressional district, potentially giving Republicans an advantage as districts absorb rural areas, I strongly believe that the three Susquehanna Cities should be placed in a single district. The 10th here would be a Trump-Biden district, making it highly competitive. Democrat and Republicans both have a decent chance of winning this district, which allows residents of Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg to make their voices heard to our representative. The rural areas of Lancaster and York Counties will be placed in the 11th district here, giving this culturally similar group a unified voice in Congress. In short, this configuration for the Susquehanna Cities and the rural areas of Lancaster and York Counties is a win-win, giving residents of both districts a district that represents them accurately. In summary, this map provides the same level of fairness as the current map drawn in 2018, making common-sense districts that keep culturally similar communities together and giving both parties a chance to win a majority of our delegation, accurately reflecting PA's swinginess. I sincerely hope the commission considers this map, and enacts something similar to this so that all Pennsylvanians can have their voices properly heard and so that gerrymandering in PA can meet its well-deserved end. Thank you.