On Wednesday (November 24), Governor Tom Wolf shared the findings of the Pennsylvania Redistricting Advisory Council, which was charged with developing recommendations for the Governor in evaluating a congressional district map passed by the General Assembly.
Overview of Redistricting Principles
The Pennsylvania Redistricting Advisory Council’s Redistricting Principles include:
Legal Principles
To serve as a minimal floor of protection so districts have compact and contiguous territory that minimize as many divisions of political subdivisions as practicable.
- Each district should be as nearly equal in population as practicable.
- All territory within a district should connect to the rest of the district and disfavor a district with territory only connected at a narrow single point.
- Provide geographic compactness unless dispersion is required to advance another positive districting principle.
- Prioritize fewer subdivision splits unless necessary to preserve a cohesive–and clearly identified–community of interest.
- Consider whether the Voting Rights Act requires the creation of proposed majority-minority districts.
Principles of Representation
To assure equal representation and fairness so a group’s power is not diluted as a check on partisan gerrymandering.
- Maintain communities of interest.
- Composition of the congressional delegation should be proportional to statewide voter preference.
- Responsive to changing voter preference.
Principles of Process
To help ensure a fair and transparent processes, the public should have an opportunity to provide input, comment, and participation on the map passed by the General Assembly.
- The General Assembly’s proposed map should include an explanation of specific decisions, such as the communities of interest and how they were defined and the factors that led to the creation of a majority-minority districts.
Conspicuously missing from the Redistricting Advisory Council’s principles was any mention of drawing boundaries that would favor incumbents. AP wrote Wednesday, That was a priority for Republican legislative majorities in 2001 and 2011, which they defended as preserving the will of voters.
In Pennsylvania, every ten years, the legislature creates the map for the new congressional districts, but the governor has to approve the legislature’s redistricting. If the governor and the legislature cannot agree on what should look like, the State Supreme Court oversees the drawing of the new boundaries.
Both the Pennsylvania House and Senate are controlled by Republicans, but Wolf is a Democrat. And the State Supreme will be 5-2 Democrat, if and when they are called upon to get involved with congressional redistricting.
Democrats haven’t had a seat at the “Pennsylvania Congressional Redistricting Table” since 1991.
In 2011, Democrats didn’t have much to say about the new congressional maps because Republicans controlled both State Senate and the State House and Republican Tom Corbett was Governor. Similarly, in 2001, Republican, Mark Schweiker, was Governor, and Republicans controlled the House and Senate. The last time Democrats in Pennsylvania had anything to say about the new congressional map was 1991, when Democrat Bob Casey was governor (Republicans controlled the Senate and Democrats were the majority in the House).
Pennsylvania has one less seat than it had in 2011.
Further complicating the process of redrawing the state’s congressional maps is the fact that in 2021, Pennsylvania has only been allocated 17 congressional districts, as compared to 2011 when the state had 18 congressional districts. In 2001 Pennsylvania had 19 congressional district and the 1990 the number was 21.