HARRISBURG (SpotlightPA.org) — Pennsylvania will lose one of its seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Census Bureau has confirmed. This sets up a high-stakes redistricting process as Democrats and Republicans battle to protect their incumbents.
The bureau released the long-awaited state population totals Monday as part of the decennial count that determines the distribution of 435 congressional seats as well as Electoral College votes.
Beginning in 2022, Pennsylvania will be split into 17 congressional districts, as opposed to the 18 currently represented evenly by Democratic and Republican representatives.
The state’s congressional map is drawn by the 253-member legislature and must be approved by the governor. In 2011, both of those branches were controlled by Republicans. But this time around, the GOP-controlled House and Senate will need the blessing of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
If history is any indication, it might be a rough process.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2018 ordered the legislature to draw a new congressional map after finding the previous version “clearly, plainly, and palpably” violated the state constitution. That ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters and individual Democrats that called the map a partisan gerrymander designed to benefit the GOP.
Wolf rejected the new map drawn by Republican lawmakers, and — after the two sides failed to reach an agreement — the court imposed its own version. GOP leadership said the move would create a “constitutional crisis” and took its own challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to intervene.
