Pennsylvania southwestern 14th congressional district asks to stay whole

(The Center Square) – Residents of the 14th congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania told a panel of House lawmakers Thursday that their counties belong together – not combined with the far flung central region or Pittsburgh.

Community leaders from both Fayette and Westmoreland counties took to the mic at the State Theater Center for the Arts in Uniontown to tell the House State Government Committee about the region’s decades-long struggle with population decline, unemployment, poverty and substance abuse.

They said they need a representative who can support their efforts to attract new residents and industries – a reality that can’t happen if their district combines with more populated counties to the north or east.

Uniontown sits in the state’s 14th congressional district, which encompasses the counties of Fayette, Washington and Greene and the western half of Westmoreland. The latest population data gleaned from the U.S. Census Bureau means that Pennsylvania will lose its 18th seat, though it’s still unclear how lawmakers will reshape representation in the region.

Bill Bretz, a resident of New Stanton and member of the Westmoreland County Republican Committee, said conventional thinking suggests one of the districts in the western half of the state will dissolve, though he urged lawmakers to keep Allegheny County – home to Pittsburgh and its surrounding suburbs of the 17th and 18th districts – out of the 14th.

“[It] would compromise the representation of both populations because the interests of the populations are so divergent and would only serve to dilute the voices of the minority area of the developed district,” he said.

He suggested, instead, that the 14th district remain largely unchanged, though it could absorb the rest of Westmoreland County, as well as parts of Cambria and Somerset counties in the nearby 13th and 15th districts.

Fayette County Commissioner Scott Dunn reiterated that counties with similar needs, like those already contained within the 14th, should stay separate and not become “too widespread.”

“In the past, our congressional district included parts in the center of the state,” he said. “These areas often have little in common with the needs of Fayette County.”

Dunn’s comments reference the 2011 congressional map still considered one of the worst examples of political gerrymandering in the country.

Critics argue that Republicans – who, at the time, controlled both chambers of the Legislature and the executive office – designed the 2011 map to cement their power, resulting in bizarre and nonsensical district borders.

The state Supreme Court tossed that map in 2018 and imposed its own boundaries. The redrawn districts flipped a 13-5 Republican majority to a 9-9 even split

The new map, drawn by legislators and approved in both chambers, must also win support from Gov. Tom Wolf – and they hope to accomplish it all before the 2022 primary elections next spring.

That’s why Committee Chairman Seth Grove, R-York, announced a slate of hearings to field input from the public about what the new districts should look like. The House also launched a website to collect comments.

For Joyce Roster, of the Fayette County NAACP, the solution is simple.

“It is evident, in my professional opinion, that District 17 and 18 can be smoothly consolidated,” she said. “Our district here, District 14, would suffer major setbacks if eliminated.”

She pointed to Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb’s campaign for the state’s open Senate seat next year. Lamb represents the 17th district, which includes the northern half of Allegheny County and all of Beaver County.

“It almost becomes a no-brainer what needs to be done,” she said. “Now the 17th and 18th district may not like me for it, but that doesn’t matter. It is what it is.”

The day before, Pittsburgh residents urged the committee to keep the city in one district and not split it or combine it with suburban and rural areas that have different needs and demographics.

The committee’s regional redistricting hearings will resume Sept. 20 at the Cohen Family Social Hall in Kingston, where residents from Bradford, Susquehanna, Wayne, Sullivan, Wyoming, Lackawanna, Montour, Columbia, Luzerne, Carbon, Monroe and Pike counties, will be invited to testify.

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