Pennsylvania Losing Congressional Seat — Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation will drop by one to 18 according to census estimates. This will be exactly half the number of congressmen the Keystone State sent to Washington in 1930.
The 435 members of Congress are divvied among the states based on population. While Pennsylvania is estimated to have grown by 2.6 percent to 12.6 million persons in the last decade that is far short of places like Arizona and Nevada which are estimated to have grown by 32 percent.
Each congressmen represents about 700,000 persons.
The district that gets dumped will be determined by Harrisburg. In the last redistricting — which also resulted in the loss of a House seat — the Republican-controlled legislature made Democratic incumbents John Murtha and Frank Mascara fight it out in the newly drawn 12th District, a battle which Murtha sadly won.
The Republicans now hold a solid majority in the state Senate and the Democrats have narrow hold in the House. Obviously, things could change after November and the dumping of a congressman will be an underlying issue in the looming races.