Redistricting fight skips Pennsylvania
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Several states are rushing to redraw their congressional districts, but not Pennsylvania.
Why it matters: Republicans hold a narrow majority in the U.S. House and are looking to hold off Democrats in next year's midterm elections and beyond.
Catch up quick: President Trump's push for redistricting in Republican-led states has kicked off a battle with states like Texas, Ohio, Missouri, Florida and others starting the process to gerrymander districts in hopes of gaining more seats.
- Some Democratic-led states like California and Illinois have responded with their own efforts to balance out any Republican gains.
Yes, but: Pennsylvania won't join them because Gov. Josh Shapiro would need to approve it, and he won't.
- "It's not on the table here in Pennsylvania," Shapiro told reporters at an August press conference.
Between the lines: Even if Shapiro were to change his mind, the state Legislature would need to pass new maps through the state House and state Senate.
- That's unlikely because Democrats control the state House and Republicans the state Senate, one of just four states with a divided assembly.
- State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana County) told Spotlight PA last month that "the realities of divided government make this a non-issue."
State of play: If the Legislature were also to change its mind, a 2018 state Supreme Court anti-gerrymander ruling would likely hamper any redistricting that ensured one party gained significantly more seats.
- Lawsuits could be filed against any new maps, and the state's highest court could reject those if it deemed them too political, Fair District PA chair Carol Kuniholm told WITF in August.
- Pennsylvania Republicans currently hold 10 districts to Democrats' seven.
The bottom line: The Keystone State's maps are set in stone for the time being.