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Scanlon wins open seat, flipping it to Democrats

HARRISBURG (AP) — Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon has won an open congressional seat in a southeastern Pennsylvania district that had been under Republican control for eight years but was redrawn by the state Supreme Court.

Scanlon beat Republican Pearl Kim on Tuesday in the Delaware County-based 5th District, giving Democrats a pickup in their quest to retake the U.S. House majority.

Republican Pat Meehan had held the Delaware County-based since 2011. Meehan resigned in April while under an ethics investigation for using taxpayer money to settle a former aide’s sexual harassment complaint.

The district it largely replaced had such a contorted shape that it was nicknamed “Goofy kicking Donald Duck” and became a national poster child for gerrymandering. The state Supreme Court redrew it after ruling Pennsylvania’s congressional districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered by Republicans in 2011.