Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district

Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district
7th District boundaries beginning in January 2019.
Current Representative	Vacant
Distribution	87.65[1]% urban 12.35% rural
Population (2010)	692,866
Ethnicity	88.3% White 5.6% Black 3.9% Asian 1.3% Hispanic .07% Native American 0.1% other
Cook PVI	D+1[2]

The 7th congressional district's boundaries from January 3, 2013 to January 2019

Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district incorporates parts of the Philadelphia suburbs, including most of Delaware County along with portions of Chester County, Montgomery County, Berks County, and Lancaster County. It is currently vacant, and last represented by Republican Pat Meehan in the 115th United States Congress, who resigned on April 27, 2018.

The district's extreme non-congruity was the result of gerrymandering.^[3] On January 22, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the map violated the state constitution, and in February it issued its own district boundaries for use in the 2018 elections and representation thereafter. Most of the population in the old 7th will become part of a new, heavily Democratic fifth district, while most of the old 15th district will become a new, marginal seventh district.^[4][5]

Elections

Geography

2003 - 2013

The 2003–2013 version of the District was located in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It contained the western and northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia. It consisted of the majority of Delaware County (except for the City of Chester and some of the eastern boroughs), a portion of Chester County east of West Chester in the affluent Main Line area, and a portion of southern Montgomery County centered on Upper Merion Township.

The 2013–2018 version of the District contains most of Delaware County outside of the City of Chester and the heavily African American townships and boroughs in the eastern portion of the county. It also contains parts of central Montgomery County, southern portions of Berks County, southern and central portions of Chester County, and a small portion of eastern Lancaster County. The District as it stood in October 2016 was named on NPR's On the Media as an egregious example of gerrymandering. The shape of the district was described as "Goofy kicking Donald Duck. The only point that is essentially contiguous there is Goofy's foot in Donald Duck's rear end. [...] However these district lines are the building blocks of democracy, and when they get as perverted and twisted as this, it leads to deeply undemocratic outcomes."^[6] The Washington Post listed it as one of the ten most gerrymandered districts in the country.^[7]

On February 19, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania released a new congressional map after lawmakers had failed to agree on a map that would reduce gerrymandering. The map substantially redrew the District.^[5]

Demographics

The district encompasses an area of diverse wealth, ranging from blue collar and working class households in the southeastern portions of Delaware County (mostly around in the oil refinery areas of Marcus Hook and Trainer) to the southern and western portions of the affluent Main Line area of Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. The district is the home of several major colleges and universities, including Haverford College; Villanova University; Penn State Brandywine; Delaware County Community College; Eastern University; and Cheyney University, the first traditionally black college in the U.S. The district is also the home of Boeing's helicopter facility in Ridley Park. Chester, the only city in Delaware County, is split between the 7th district and 1st Congressional District, but is mostly in the 1st district.

List of representatives

1791 – 1793: One seat

District created in 1791 from the at-large district

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
Thomas Hartley	Pro-Administration	March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793	2nd	Redistricted from the At-large district. Redistricted to the At-large district.

District redistricted in 1793 to the at-large district

1795 – 1823: One seat

District created in 1795 from the at-large district

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
John W. Kittera	Federalist	March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1801	4th 5th 6th	Redistricted from the At-large district.
Thomas Boude	Federalist	March 4, 1801 – March 3, 1803	7th	[Data unknown/missing.]
John Rea	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1811	8th 9th 10th 11th	[Data unknown/missing.]
William Piper	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1811 – March 3, 1813	12th	Redistricted to the 8th district.
John M. Hyneman	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1813 – August 2, 1813	13th	Redistricted from the 3rd district. Resigned.
Vacant		August 2, 1813 – October 12, 1813	13th
Daniel Udree	Democratic-Republican	October 12, 1813 – March 3, 1815	13th	Lost re-election.
Joseph Hiester	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1815 – December ????, 1820	14th 15th 16th	Resigned to become Governor of Pennsylvania.
Vacant		December ????, 1820 – December 26, 1820	16th	[Data unknown/missing.]
Daniel Udree	Democratic-Republican	December 26, 1820 – March 3, 1821	16th	[Data unknown/missing.]
Ludwig Worman	Federalist	March 4, 1821 – October 17, 1822	17th	Died.
Vacant		October 17, 1822 – December 10, 1822	17th
Daniel Udree	Democratic-Republican	December 10, 1822 – March 3, 1823	17th	[Data unknown/missing.]

1833 – Present: One seat

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
David D. Wagener	Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837	23rd 24th	[Data unknown/missing.]
	Democratic	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1841	25th 26th
John Westbrook	Democratic	March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843	27th	Retired.
Abraham R. McIlvaine	Whig	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849	28th 29th 30th	Lost renomination.
Jesse C. Dickey	Whig	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851	31st	Lost re-election.
John A. Morrison	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853	32nd	[Data unknown/missing.]
Samuel A. Bridges	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd	Lost re-election.
Samuel C. Bradshaw	Opposition	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857	34th	Lost re-election.
Henry Chapman	Democratic	March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1859	35th	Retired.
Henry C. Longnecker	Republican	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th	[Data unknown/missing.]
Thomas B. Cooper	Democratic	March 4, 1861 – April 4, 1862	37th	Died.
Vacant		April 4, 1862 – June 3, 1862	37th
John D. Stiles	Democratic	June 3, 1862 – March 3, 1863	37th	Redistricted to the 6th district
John M. Broomall	Republican	March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869	38th 39th 40th	Retired.
Washington Townsend	Republican	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1875	41st 42nd 43rd	Redistricted to the 6th district
Alan Wood Jr.	Republican	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877	44th	Retired.
Isaac N. Evans	Republican	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879	45th	Retired.
William Godshalk	Republican	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1883	46th 47th	Retired.
Isaac N. Evans	Republican	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887	48th 49th	Retired.
Robert M. Yardley	Republican	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1891	50th 51st	Retired.
Edwin Hallowell	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893	52nd	Lost re-election.
Irving P. Wanger	Republican	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1903	53rd 54th 55th 56th 57th	Redistricted to the 8th district.
Thomas S. Butler	Republican	March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1923	58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd 63rd 64th 65th 66th 67th	Redistricted from the 6th district. Redistricted to the 8th district.
George P. Darrow	Republican	March 4, 1923 – January 3, 1937	68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd 73rd 74th	Redistricted from the 6th district. Lost re-election.
Ira W. Drew	Democratic	January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1939	75th	Lost re-election.
George P. Darrow	Republican	January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1941	76th	Retired.
Hugh Scott	Republican	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1945	77th 78th	Lost re-election.
James Wolfenden	Republican	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947	79th	Redistricted from the 8th district. Retired.
E. Wallace Chadwick	Republican	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949	80th	Lost renomination.
Benjamin F. James	Republican	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1959	81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th	Retired.
William H. Milliken Jr.	Republican	January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1965	86th 87th 88th	Retired.
G. Robert Watkins	Republican	January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1967	89th	Redistricted to the 9th district
Lawrence G. Williams	Republican	January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1975	90th 91st 92nd 93rd	Lost re-election.
Robert W. Edgar	Democratic	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1987	94th 95th 96th 97th 98th 99th	Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Curt Weldon	Republican	January 3, 1987 – January 3, 2007	100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th	Lost re-election.
Joe Sestak	Democratic	January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011	110th 111th	Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Pat Meehan	Republican	January 3, 2011 – April 27, 2018	112th 113th 114th 115th	Resigned.
Vacant		April 27, 2018 – November 6, 2018	115th
To be determined		November 6, 2018 – January 3, 2019		To be determined in the November 6, 2018 special election.
To be determined		from January 3, 2019	116th	To be determined in the 2018 elections.

See also

• List of United States congressional districts
• Pennsylvania's congressional districts

References

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

External links

• District map
• Congressional redistricting in Pennsylvania

Coordinates: 39°54′N 75°55′W / 39.900°N 75.917°W / 39.900; -75.917