Pennsylvania's congressional districts

Current districts and representatives

The congressional delegation from Pennsylvania consists of 17 members. In the current delegation, 7 representatives are Democrats and 10 are Republicans. The list below identifies the members of the United States House delegation from Pennsylvania, their service start dates, and current court-ordered district boundaries.

Historical elections summary

File:PA2010House.png|alt=2010 Pennsylvania United States House of Representatives election by Congressional District|2010 File:PA201420162012.png|alt=2012/14/16 Pennsylvania United States House of Representatives election by Congressional District|2012 File:PA201420162012.png|alt=2012/14/16 Pennsylvania United States House of Representatives election by Congressional District|2014 File:PA201420162012.png|alt=2012/14/16 Pennsylvania United States House of Representatives election by Congressional District|2016 File:PA20182020House.jpg|alt=2018/20 Pennsylvania United States House of Representatives election by Congressional District|2018 File:PA20182020House.jpg|alt=2018/20 Pennsylvania United States House of Representatives election by Congressional District|2020 File:PA2022House.png|alt=2022 Pennsylvania United States House of Representatives election by Congressional District|2022 File:PA2024House.png|alt=2024 Pennsylvania United States House of Representatives election by Congressional District|2024

2012 redistricting and gerrymandering challenge

Following the 2010 census, redistricting in Pennsylvania was controlled by elected officials from the Republican party. In 2012, Pennsylvania realigned a number of districts. A number of sitting congressional representatives had their districts modified or merged as part of the redistricting. The merger of districts 4 and 12 forced a primary runoff between the two sitting congressional representatives.

The 2012 redistricting process resulted in a map that according to Democrats favored Republican candidates. Pennsylvania has voted majority Democrat in every presidential election since 1992, with the exception of Donald Trump's victories in the 2016 and 2024 elections. In the 2012 congressional elections, Democratic candidates won 50.5% of the total votes cast. However, only five of the state's 18 federal Representatives (27.78%) were Democrats.

On June 14, 2017, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit, alleging that the district boundaries constituted an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The case was eventually appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. On January 22, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the congressional districts were unlawfully gerrymandered in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The court ordered the General Assembly and the governor to adopt a remedied map, to be used for the 2018 congressional elections. The governor and General Assembly failed to reach an agreement regarding the district boundaries, thus the Pennsylvania Supreme Court drew its own remedial map.

On February 19, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court released its new congressional map, to take effect for the May 15, 2018, primaries. The Court voted to implement the new map by a 4–3 vote. The map was designed with the assistance of Stanford University law professor Nathaniel Persily. The districts in the Court's map were significantly more compact, and its map split fewer municipalities and counties than the prior Republican-drawn map. While the GOP-drawn map had favored Republican candidates, the court-drawn map is expected not to favor one party over the other.

Republican lawmakers from Pennsylvania requested that the Supreme Court block the implementation of the court-drawn map; however, on March 19, 2018, the United States Supreme Court denied their request. A Pennsylvania federal district court dismissed a parallel suit on the same day. Prior to the 2018 House elections, the Republicans had held 12 seats to 6 for the Democrats, and prior to the March 2018 special election in the 18th district, the delegation had consisted of 13 Republicans and 5 Democrats. The 2018 election resulted in 9 Democrats and 9 Republicans in the delegation.

Historical district boundaries

File:Pagecgd112 pa.pdf| File:Pennsylvania Congressional Districts, 113th Congress.tif| File:Remedial Plan Statewide Image.png|

References

References

1. (April 26, 2021). "Census Bureau announces 331 million people in US, Texas will add two congressional seats". CNN.
2. "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".
3. (April 3, 2025). "2025 Cook PVI: District Map and List". The Cook Political Report.
4. Gibson, Keegan. "Pa's New Congressional Maps".
5. Wang, Sam. (December 5, 2015). "Opinion – Let Math Save Our Democracy".
6. "2012 Pennsylvania House Election Results". Politico LLC.
7. Marc Levy. "Pennsylvania's US House district borders challenged in court".
8. The Associated Press. "Pa. Supreme Court rules state's congressional districts are unconstitutional".
9. Mark Scolforo and Mark Sherman. "US Supreme Court Won't Block Pennsylvania Redistricting".
10. John Finnerty. "Supreme Court will get to pick new map for state's congressional districts".
11. Lozano, Alicia Victoria. (19 February 2018). "Pennsylvania Court Issues New Congressional Map". 2018 NBCUniversal Media, LLC.
12. (19 February 2018). "Pa. gerrymandering case: State Supreme Court releases new congressional map for 2018 elections". 2018 Philadelphia Media Network (Digital), LLC.
13. (19 February 2018). "In Pennsylvania, New Court-Drawn Voting Map Could Shift Advantage To Democrats".
14. Ingraham, Christopher. (20 February 2018). "Pennsylvania Supreme Court draws 'much more competitive' district map to overturn Republican gerrymander". The Washington Post.
15. "The New Pennsylvania Congressional Map, District by District". The New York Times.
16. (March 19, 2018). "Supreme Court upholds new Pa. congressional district map, rejecting Republican challenge – Philly". Philly.com.
17. Joseph Ax. (March 19, 2018). "Supreme Court upholds Pennsylvania congressional map in win for Democrats".