HARRISBURG - A panel of Pennsylvania’s most powerful lawmakers released new proposed maps for the state’s House and Senate districts Thursday that could dramatically alter the balance of political power in Harrisburg for the decade to come - with the advantage swinging to the Democrats.

The maps were drafted and approved by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission, a five-person panel made up of the four top legislative leaders from both parties and a nonpartisan chairperson selected by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

If the proposed boundaries are realigned, it would mean a number of changes in representation for the Carbon-Monroe-Schuylkill area.

Summit Hill would return to the 122nd House District, represented by Rep. Doyle Heffley.

Carbon County would be moved to the 40th Senatorial District, which also included Monroe and Pike counties, currently represented by Sen. Mario Scavello.

Sens. John Yudichak and David Argall would no longer represent Carbon County.

The 176th House District will include Ross Township in Monroe County, currently represented by Rep. Jack Rader.

Reshaping legislature

The proposed maps could reshape the 50-member Senate and 203-member House, which are both controlled by Republicans, and will also determine how well growing communities of color across the state are represented in the General Assembly. The Legislature wields significant influence, setting policy and budget priorities that affect everyone in the state.

The proposed House map drew the most attention because of its potential to shift control of the chamber to Democrats. Republicans currently hold a 113-90 advantage and have been in the majority since 2010, despite the fact that they are in the minority of registered voters in the state. That’s in part because Democrats are so heavily concentrated in certain areas.

Adam Podowitz-Thomas, a senior legal analyst for the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project, said the new map creates about 102 districts that lean Democratic.

“We anticipate that the new map would give Democrats a real chance of taking the majority in the House of Representatives,” Podowitz-Thomas said. “There are 17 districts we would consider competitive, meaning that the final outcome will very much come down to candidates and turnout.”

The Princeton project gave the House map a grade of ‘C’ overall and said it leaned Democratic in terms of overall fairness. The map was given an ‘F’ for competitiveness, meaning most districts clearly favor one party or another. The House proposal scored better, receiving a ‘B,’ for compactness and minimizing county splits.

Democrats assert the House map would undo years of unfair Republican gerrymandering. Since 2015, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has routinely used his veto to block the Republican agenda, but that could change depending on the outcome of next year’s gubernatorial election. Wolf, who is term-limited, cannot run again, setting up a wide-open race that is sure to attract national attention.

“I’m proud of the preliminary product that we advanced today, as well as the thoughtful and bipartisan process we used to get here,” said Senate Majority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny.

Opponents

But a key Republican on the panel trashed the House map as a clear effort by Democrats to seize control. House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, said Democrats sought to twist gerrymandering in their favor rather than end it.

“Drawing a map that is meant for no other reason than to cement a legislative majority for a certain party for our coming decade (does) not undo the wrongs that they seek to correct,” Benninghoff said. “They repeat them. They perpetuate them. They revel in them.”

“I see this map as extremely partisan gerrymandered.”

The House map creates 12 majority-minority districts, meaning a single community of color makes up the majority, which is the same as the current map. But it would also create 13 coalition districts, or those in which communities of color collectively make up the majority. The current map has only six coalition districts.

More than 40 counties in the west, central and northern parts of the state saw declines in population during the past 10 years, while the southeast continued to grow. The share of residents who identify as white alone declined from nearly 82% to 75% from 2010 to 2020, as the Hispanic population grew and the number of black residents remained roughly the same.

The House map passed by a 3-2 vote along partisan lines, with the two Democrats and the independent chairperson, Mark Nordenberg, voting in favor.

Senate map

The proposed Senate map passed unanimously and received an overall “A” grade from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, in part because it did not give either party a clear advantage. Republicans currently hold a 28-21 advantage over Democrats and one Independent and have controlled the upper chamber since 1994.

Both maps create new districts in urban areas that experienced population growth, such as Allentown, Philadelphia, and Montgomery County. Those seats were made by reducing the number of districts in more rural areas that experienced population decline - and which are dominated by Republicans.

For example, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman’s, R-Centre, seat would be moved south to accommodate for the greater population growth in Cumberland County. Corman, who is running for governor, recently announced he would not seek reelection.

Fair district advocates in the state have advocated for years for the redistricting process to be taken out of lawmakers’ hands, but that change would require those lawmakers consent, and historically both parties have been loath to cede any power.

Proposed changes:

Senate

District 14 (currently represented by Sen. John Yudichak): Parts of Lehigh County, including parts of the cities of Allentown and Bethlehem, the townships of Hanover, Salisbury and Whitehall and the boroughs of Catasauqua, Coplay, Emmaus and Fountain Hill; and parts of Northampton County, including the townships of Allen, East Allen, Hanover, Lehigh and Moore and the boroughs of Bath, Chapman, North Catasauqua, Northampton and Walnutport. Total population: 251,850.

District 16 (currently represented by Sen. Patrick M. Browne): Parts of Berks County, including the townships of Albany, Amity, Colebrookdale, District, Douglass, Earl, Greenwich, Hereford, Longswamp, Maidencreek, Ontelaunee, Perry, Pike, Rockland, Washington and Windsor and the boroughs of Bally, Bechtelsville, Boyertown, Hamburg, Leesport, Lenhartsville and Shoemakersville; and parts of Lehigh County, including parts of the City of Allentown; the townships of Heidelberg, Lower Macungie, Lower Milford, Lowhill, Lynn, North Whitehall, South Whitehall, Upper Macungie, Upper Milford, Upper Saucon, Washington and Weisenberg and the boroughs of Alburtis, Coopersburg, Macungie and Slatington. Total population: 265,215.

District 29 (currently represented by Sen. David Argall): Parts of Luzerne County, including the City of Hazleton, the townships of Bear Creek, Black Creek, Buck, Butler, Dennison, Fairview, Foster, Hanover, Hazle, Rice, Sugarloaf and Wright and the boroughs of Ashley, Bear Creek Village, Conyngham, Freeland, Jeddo, Nuangola, Penn Lake Park, Sugar Notch, Warrior Run, West Hazleton and White Haven; and all of Schuylkill County. Total population: 247,391.

District 40 (currently represented by Sen. Mario M. Scavello): All of Carbon County, all of Monroe County and parts of Pike County, including the townships of Delaware, Dingman, Lehman, Milford, Porter and Westfall and the boroughs of Matamoras and Milford. Total population: 272,319.

House of Representatives

District 116 (currently represented by Rep. Tarah Toohil): parts of Luzerne County, including the City of Hazleton, the Township of Hazle and the Borough of West Hazleton; and parts of Schuylkill County, including the townships of East Union, Kline, Mahanoy, North Union and Union, and the boroughs of Mahanoy City, McAdoo, Ringtown and Shenandoah. Total population: 63,945.

District 122 (currently represented by Rep. Doyle Heffley): All of Carbon County. Total population: 64,866.

District 123 (currently represented by Rep. Tim Twardzik): Parts of Schuylkill County, including the City of Pottsville; the townships of Blythe, Branch, Butler, Cass, East Norwegian, New Castle, North Manheim, Norwegian, Wayne and West Mahanoy; and the boroughs of Ashland (Schuylkill County Portion), Cressona, Frackville, Gilberton, Girardville, Gordon, Mechanicsville, Middleport, Minersville, Mount Carbon, New Philadelphia, Palo Alto, Port Carbon, Schuylkill Haven and St. Clair. Total population: 65,886.

District 124 (currently represented by Rep. Jerry Knowles): Parts of Berks County, including the townships Albany, Greenwich, Maxatawny, Tilden, Upper Bern, Upper Tulpehocken and Windsor; and the boroughs of Hamburg, Kutztown and Lenhartsville; and parts of Schuylkill County, including the townships of Delano, East Brunswick, Rush, Ryan, Schuylkill, South Manheim, Walker, West Brunswick and West Penn; and the boroughs of Auburn, Coaldale, Deer Lake, Landingville, New Ringgold, Orwigsburg, Port Clinton and Tamaqua. Total population: 64,846.

District 176 (currently represented by Rep. Jack Rader Jr.): Parts of Monroe County, including the townships of Chestnuthill, Eldred, Hamilton, Jackson, Polk, Ross and Tunkhannock; and parts of Northampton County, including Upper Mount Bethel Township and the borough of Portland. Total population: 61,488.

District 183 (currently represented by Rep. Zachary Mako): Parts of Lehigh County, including the townships of North Whitehall (part, Districts 01, 02, 03, 05 and 06) and Washington, and the Borough of Slatington; and parts of Northampton County, including the townships of Allen, East Allen and Lehigh, and the boroughs of Bath, North Catasauqua, Northampton and Walnutport. Total population: 63,566.

District 189 (currently represented by Rep. Rosemary M. Brown): Parts of Monroe County, including the townships of Middle Smithfield (part, District East), Smithfield and Stroud (part, Districts 01, 03, 04, 05, 06 and 07), and the boroughs of Delaware Water Gap, East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg; and parts of Pike County, including the townships of Delaware (part, District 02) and Lehman. Total population: 62,158.

This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.

Times New Staff contributed to this article.