Governor Tom Wolf has rejected the new congressional map proposed by state Republican leaders.
He told the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Tuesday that the new map is still a partisan gerrymander that does not comply with the court’s order or Pennsylvania’s Constitution.
Gerrymandering is when political districts are drawn to benefit one political party over another. Wolf says his team analyzed the proposed map and found is still clearly seeks to benefit one party.
“Partisan gerrymandering weakens citizen power, promotes gridlock and stifles meaningful reform,” Governor Wolf said in a statement released Tuesday. ” As non-partisan analysts have already said, their map maintains a similar partisan advantage by employing many of the same unconstitutional tactics present in their 2011 map. The analysis by my team shows that, like the 2011 map, the map submitted to my office by Republican leaders is still a gerrymander. Their map clearly seeks to benefit one political party, which is the essence of why the court found the current map to be unconstitutional.”
Last month, the state high court ruled the current congressional maps unconstitutional and gave the Republican-controlled legislature a deadline to submit new district lines.
All of Butler County is included in the 3rd Congressional District, which is represented by Mike Kelly of Butler. In the new proposed map, Butler County remained in the same district.