Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district

Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district
Map
Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023
Representative
Population (2023)778,593
Median household
income		$79,206
Ethnicity
Cook PVIR+2[1]

Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district includes all of Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties, and parts of Monroe County. The district is represented by Democrat Susan Wild.

From March 2003 through 2018, the district incorporated parts of the Philadelphia suburbs, including most of Delaware County, along with portions of Chester, Montgomery, Berks, and Lancaster Counties. The district exhibited extreme non-congruity during that time as a result of gerrymandering.[2] On January 22, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the map violated the state constitution, and in February, it issued its own district boundaries for use in the 2018 elections and representation thereafter.[3] Most of the population in the old 7th district became part of a new 5th district, encompassing all of Delaware County and parts of South Philadelphia; while most of the old 15th district became the new 7th district.[4][5] In the 2020 redistricting cycle, Carbon County was added into the district, in exchange for the area around East Stroudsburg in Monroe County.

Pat Meehan, who had represented the old 7th district since 2011, resigned on April 27, 2018, amid a sexual harassment case. Mary Gay Scanlon won the special election on November 6, 2018, to replace him for the remainder of his term, and she served for slightly less than two months as the last representative for the old 7th district before being transferred to the newly redrawn 5th district. Susan Wild won the general election in the newly redrawn 7th district, and she took office January 3, 2019.

The district was identified as a presidential bellwether by Sabato's Crystal Ball, having voted for the Electoral College winner in the past four presidential elections as of 2020.[6]

  1. ^ "2022 Cook PVI: District Map and List". Cook Political Report. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  2. ^ Ingraham, Christopher. "This is the best explanation of gerrymandering you will ever see". Washington Post. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  3. ^ League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, No. 159 MM 2018, [1] (PA February 19, 2018)
  4. ^ "Pennsylvania Supreme Court strikes down state's congressional districts". CBS News. 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. CBS News. January 24, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  5. ^ Cohn, Nate; Bloch, Matthew; Quealy, Kevin (February 19, 2018). "The New Pennsylvania House Districts Are In. We Review the Mapmakers' Choices". The Upshot. The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  6. ^ "Districts of Change, Part Two: Looking Beyond the Straight-Party Districts".