HARRISBURG - The five-member commission redrawing the boundaries of Pennsylvania’s state legislative districts voted Friday to approve new maps for the next decade, with a focus on the state’s fast-growing Latino population that could change the face of the predominantly white House and Senate.

The Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted 4 to 1 during their meeting in the Capitol, with chair Mark Nordenberg, the Senate Republican leader and the House and Senate Democratic leaders voting for it.

The vote came after nearly a year of meetings, hearings and closed-door discussions to carry out the constitutionally required, once-a-decade map-drawing to account for demographic shifts identified by the census.

In comments before the vote, House Minority Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, called the House map a “fair, constitutionally sound map.”

Carbon united

Under the new House map, Carbon County is united in District 122, currently represented by Republican Doyle Heffley.

Schuylkill County is in two districts, with Rush, Ryan, Schuylkill, West Penn, Coaldale and Tamaqua together in District 123, represented currently by Republican Tim Twardzik.

Slatington and Walnutport remain together in District 183, currently represented by Republican Zachary Mako.

In Monroe County, Ross is added to District 176, with the rest of Pleasant Valley School District. The district is currently represented by Republican Jack Rader.

Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, called the new Senate map “truly a product for the public and by the public.”

Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, called it “imperfect,” but said she was confident that it is constitutional.

Nordenberg, a Democrat and a former University of Pittsburgh chancellor appointed by the state Supreme Court, quoted testimony from a political-science professor from George Washington University who called it a fair, if slightly Republican-leaning, map.

Nordenberg also quoted from a letter by three Latino members of the Legislature that applauded the map and said it has nine districts “in which Latinos should be able to elect a candidate of their choice.”

Dissent

The lone dissenter, House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, slammed it as an unconstitutional gerrymander designed to help Democrats.

It will not improve minority representation and will lead to more gridlock and less competitive districts, Benninghoff said.

Benninghoff said after the meeting that House Republicans are preparing a legal challenge to the state Supreme Court, with less than two weeks to go before candidates can start circulating petitions in the new districts to get on the May 17 primary ballot.

The House and Senate maps, approved and public for the first time Friday, adjusted preliminary maps approved by the panel in December after a 30-day period for public comment and hearings.

Republicans have had the upper hand in at least the past two cycles of redistricting.

They also have held durable and substantial majorities in both legislative chambers for nearly all of the last three decades, even though Democrats hold a registration statewide.

House majority

Republicans currently hold a 113 to 90 House majority and a 29 to 21 Senate majority on maps in force since 2014’s elections.

Since then, Republicans have held majorities in both chambers - including some of the biggest majorities in a half-century - while Democrats won more statewide races, 19 to 11.

The Senate map wiped out what Democrats saw as the most extreme gerrymanders created by Republicans in the existing map that helped defeat Democratic incumbents in Johnstown and Harrisburg.

Meanwhile, in the House, four pairs of Republican incumbents were each drawn into a district, a consequence of shrinking populations there, Nordenberg said.

To create nine districts where minorities have significant populations, House mapmakers split the cities of Allentown, Reading, Lancaster and Harrisburg and carved districts into Philadelphia and Montgomery and Luzerne counties.

In the Senate, mapmakers redrew a Senate district in Philadelphia currently held by Democrat Christine Tartaglione and moved the Wilkes-Barre-based district into part of Allentown and its suburbs.

Senate districts

That protected Allentown Republican Pat Browne by putting him into a Republican-leaning district, but put Democrat-turned-independent John Yudichak in a district with Republican Lisa Baker.

Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties are now in one district, No. 29, currently represented by Republican Sen. David Argall.

Monroe County is now included with Lackawanna and Wayne County in District 40, currently represented by Republican Sen. Mario Scavello.

Slatington and Washington Township in Lehigh County are grouped with Bucks County in District 16, represented by Browne.

Walnutport and Lehigh Township are now included with Lehigh County in District 14, currently represented by Yudichak.

Marta Gouger contributed to this report.