Gov. Wolf Will Evaluate New GOP Congressional District Map

She says the map has some of the same old problems, “We’re still seeing too many splits”.

With a state Supreme Court-imposed deadline approaching, House and Senate Republican leaders sent Gov. The new map places Bradford County in the redrawn 5th District, but McLinko still hopes to face off with Marino. There is no reason Berks can not be intact in a single congressional district. Per the court directive on compactness and contiguous boundaries, Turzai said the new GOP-drawn map splits the fewest municipal and county splits since 1971. “At least this map, as compared to the other one, is close to inclusive”, Lansford Borough Council President Jared Soto said. In Lawrence County, Keith Rothfus in the 12th District would pick up Kelly’s area. Republicans hold 13 of 18 congressional seats in the closely contested swing state.

Wolf described the claim as “dubious at best”.

“Gerrymandering uses techniques like “packing” and “cracking” to target voters from a particular group, such as voters from the opposite party or minority or low-income voters, to reduce their influence”, Fair Districts PA argues.

With the inclusion of Butler County, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly would remain the incumbent congressman for Mercer County.

“This map was not the product of bipartisan work, nor is it a piece of legislation that passed through both of our chambers”, Costa wrote. Moon Duchin, a mathematician hired by Wolf to evaluate the proposed map, reached the same conclusion. “Duchin-021318.pdf” target=”_blank”>statement explaining her analysis. The court has indicated it will “expeditiously” adopt its own map based on previous testimony if Wolf rejects the proposal.

He told the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Tuesday that the new map is still a partisan gerrymander that does not comply with the court’s order or Pennsylvania’s Constitution. Tufts University professor Moon Duchin, who Wolf recruited to analyze the map, said the map represents a “decidedly partisan skew that can not be explained by Pennsylvania’s political geography or the application of traditional districting principles”.

The rebuke from Republicans was swift.

The Senate majority leader Tuesday accused the governor of trying to run out the clock in order to leave the map-making to the high court. Their behavior points to why we still need permanent reform with SB22 and HB722 to create an Independent Citizen’s Commission and remove legislators from the process altogether.

“There’s not any standard in what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said, or anywhere in the federal government, any court ever, that says competitiveness is a standard”, Corman said. “I can’t help where people live”.

Madonna says he is not sure the governor will turn this version of the map over to the Supreme Court. That is scheduled for May, but right now many Pennsylvanians don’t know what district they will be voting in and who they will be voting for.

Some may wonder just how much of a difference does the map make.

The GOP leaders said that under their plan, less than one-third of voters would find themselves in new districts.

The judicial branch itself will be usurping the legislative process if it draws the map on its own, Cox said.