Let the games begin.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has fired the first shot in what could be the penultimate battle of his two-term tug-of-war with the Republican-controlled Legislature — drawing Pennsylvania’s new congressional district map.
Districts must be redrawn every decade, using new data from the U.S. Census. Redistricting is required to account for population shifts, to ensure districts have roughly the same population.
Last week, Wolf announced the criteria he will use to evaluate the map that will be crafted by lawmakers.
Wolf’s approval is necessary. If he and lawmakers can’t agree, the state Supreme Court will choose a map.
There were no surprises in the criteria, which were recommended by the Redistricting Advisory Council that Wolf created. It offered guiding principles that mirror legal requirements and commonly accepted techniques to create a fair map.
Wolf’s announcement of the criteria was more of a warning shot to lawmakers not to gerrymander districts to gain political advantages.
“Our commonwealth and our nation were founded on the ideals that voters freely select their own elected leaders, not the opposite way around,” he said in a statement.
“The congressional districts that will be drawn by the General Assembly are key to that process.”
The advisory council suggested Wolf require contiguous, compact districts. It said he should “disfavor” a map that ties a district together by a narrow thread of land, as some of Pennsylvania’s previous maps have.
Municipalities, school districts and counties should be split between districts only when necessary to keep together a “community of interest,” a geographic area or neighborhood where residents share common socio-economic and cultural interests.
The map should create a congressional delegation that’s in proportion to statewide party affiliation, and create districts that are competitive. Wolf also should consider whether the Voting Rights Act requires creating majority-minority districts, the council said.
The advisory council told Wolf he should “closely scrutinize any map that is not accompanied by a public record or narrative which explains the rationale for decisions which were made.”
That’s important. Lawmakers should have to justify their reasoning — just as Wolf should if he chooses to veto their map.
I hope the GOP-run Legislature gets the point, and doesn’t make fools of themselves as they did last time.
Republican lawmakers still are licking the wounds they suffered after the last map they drew, in 2011, when they had a Republican governor to rubber stamp their scheme. The state Supreme Court tossed that map in 2018 as being illegally gerrymandered.
Then, when Wolf and Republicans couldn’t agree on a suitable replacement map, the court drew its own.
This year’s redistricting process is a challenge because Pennsylvania is losing one seat in the U.S. House because its population declined since the last census. That means the 18 current districts must be drawn into 17. Each should have about 764,865 residents.
Perhaps this is me showing my holiday spirit, but I’m hopeful this year’s redistricting process will be more of a team effort.
Lawmakers know they can’t afford to draw a map that Wolf will veto, leaving the decision to the Supreme Court again. It has a strong Democratic majority and already has made clear its disdain for gerrymandering.
It is concerning that Pennsylvania isn’t further ahead in this process.
A map must be approved by mid-February — preferably much earlier — so candidates can start the process of getting on the ballot for the May primary.
About 20 states already have approved new congressional maps.
It’s no surprise Pennsylvania hasn’t acted yet, considering how little time our overpaid lawmakers spend in Harrisburg. And a lot of the time they have spent there has been wasted on trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
If they try to rush this through — the 2011 map was approved in a week — they could be sorry.
The advisory council recommended Wolf reject a map that is passed hastily with limited debate or opportunity for public consideration.
That’s an interesting point.
In July, Republican legislative leaders promised the “most transparent congressional redistricting process” in state history. Since then, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission has held 16 public hearings.
All of them have been at the Capitol complex in Harrisburg.
Why not travel the state to get input? The Harrisburg hearings allowed for virtual testimony, but that’s lazy and shows how little lawmakers truly value public opinion on this important topic.
The governor’s advisory council held public input sessions, too. They were in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton, West Chester, Erie, University Park and Mansfield.
The council and legislature both accepted comments and map submissions online.
It’s great to accept input on the process, but it’s critical to allow people to weigh in on the final product, too.
Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com
