If we don’t win, it must be gerrymandered …
Before 2018, Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District looked like Goofy kicking Donald. Goofy and Donald sliced and diced and gerrymandered communities across Southeastern Pennsylvania. This gerrymandered congressional map ensured that Republicans would win 13 of 18 US congressional seats in every election. It wouldn’t matter that Democrats were winning over 70% of the statewide elections. It wouldn’t matter whether Democrats won their statewide elections with 55% of the vote or with 49% of the vote. The congressional delegation from Pennsylvania never changed. When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed Goofy in 2018, the US Supreme Court declined to take up the challenge.
Maps matter. In 2018, Democrats decisively swept the statewide elections and the new congressional map enabled them to finally win additional congressional seats. Some Republicans were livid. They seemed to think a map was only “fair” if it provided a handicap to help them overcome poor performance in statewide elections. If they didn’t win, the map must have been gerrymandered.
In 2021, the congressional maps had to be drawn again with one less district. Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed the congressional map passed by the Republican General Assembly. The responsibility again fell to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Court chose the congressional map that was most similar to the 2018 map.
In 2024, for the first time in over a decade, Republicans won just over 50% of the vote share in the state-wide elections. The congressional map responded to that change in voter preference by allowing voters to send a majority Republican congressional delegation to Washington. We should all be celebrating a map that allows voters to choose their politicians.
State legislative maps matter too. In the last decade, the slicing and dicing that gave us Goofy Kicking Donald also occurred when the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) drew our state legislative districts. Small urban areas like Pottstown and Phoenixville were split between two house districts. Instead of having one naturally occurring blue district and one naturally occurring red district, the splitting of a small urban area created two moderately competitive districts that leaned red. This phenomenon happened repeatedly across the state. The resulting map guaranteed strong Republican majorities in the General Assembly regardless of how they performed in statewide elections. The map chose the majority party in Harrisburg and voters had little say in the matter.
The 2022 state House map put small urban areas like Pottstown and Phoenixville back together. Naturally occurring blue areas were allowed to be blue and naturally occurring red areas were allowed to be red. The result has been fewer competitive districts, but as a whole, the statewide map is extraordinarily competitive.
In 2022, Democrats won the statewide elections decisively and the new state house map allowed voters to send a slim 102-101 Democratic majority to Harrisburg. In 2024, Republicans won just over 50% of votes in statewide elections. There were three state house elections in which fewer than 500 voters decided the election. One of those districts was in deep red Cambria County where voters chose to send their conservative Democrat back to Harrisburg. A map that can lead to a different majority in Harrisburg with just a few hundred votes is the epitome of responsive.
Many Pennsylvanians (including some contributors to the op-ed pages) don’t realize that the LRC chairman is chosen by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. We got lucky in 2021. The Democratic Supreme Court chose Mark Nordenberg. Both sides of the aisle lauded his selection. Chairman Nordenberg ensured that this decade’s state legislative maps split fewer municipalities and the districts were more compact. The new maps allow voters to choose the majority party in both the state House and Senate.
All maps will be re-drawn in 2031. We don’t know which party will hold the majority in either chamber.
We do know that the majority party will attempt to manipulate the maps to cement a majority for the next decade. Democrats will gerrymander the maps to favor Democrats. Republicans will gerrymander the maps to favor Republicans. In 2031, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court could pick a partisan hack to chair the LRC. Then we’d likely see what a real Democratic gerrymander looks like for the state house and state senate.
Fair Districts PA supports legislation that would create an independent redistricting commission to draw our congressional and state legislative maps. This legislation would remove the conflict of interest that comes with politicians picking their voters. It would also remove the Supreme Court from its role of appointing the LRC chair. The Independent Redistricting Commission would have to follow strict rules concerning transparency and prioritized criteria. The resulting maps would benefit citizens.
To learn more, attend the Fair Districts PA Conference in Camp Hill on Dec. 7.
Ruth Yeiser of Lower Frederick Township is an outreach coordinator for Fair Districts PA. She has been a volunteer for Fair Districts PA since 2017. Email her at [email protected]
