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Map That Jawn

Map That Jawn - The Full Story

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OurTake

Let’s face it: all of us took US history at some point in time or another in middle or high school, but the only things that I can really remember are that there are three branches of government and that one song “Fifty Nifty United States,” which now unfortunately lives rent-free in my head. In eighth grade history class, out of boredom I taught myself how to french braid my own hair. I also sat in the front row, so I didn’t even attempt to hide my lack of interest - sorry about that, Ms. Hayes. So, what were you doing during your history class? Zoning out the window, staring at your crush, sticking your gum to the bottom of your desk, passing notes with your friends?

Everyone had different distractions in their history class, but if you’re like me, this left a huge gap in my education, which speaks to the structural failings of our education system. No one taught me about redistricting. And if you were lucky enough to learn about it, many students may never think about gerrymandering again. It is far too common that young Americans don’t know enough about the nuances and nitty-gritty details of how our government functions. That being said, for a generation who grew up with Google at our fingertips, it’s surprisingly difficult to find accurate, easily digestible information to fill those gaps in our education. That’s where we come in. Without further ado, we’d like to introduce ourselves. We are #VoteThatJawn, an organization that aims to bring 18-year-olds and other first-time voters to the polls— beginning a process toward full civic engagement. We’re here to teach you about redistricting, gerrymandering 101, and the power of your vote.

We're just getting started. Read the full story.

Getting Interactive

Recognizing the complexity of understanding Congressional redistricting (check out our tabs for more background and information!), we’ve put together an interactive map to break things down, especially for those of us who were learning to french braid in history class. Stick with us, and redistricting really WILL seem like a piece of cake. Our map has two main functions: first and foremost, it visibly presents all 17 of the new Pennsylvania Congressional districts. When you scroll over the icon next to the district with your mouse, you’ll receive information on the current representative of the district, and you’ll also receive information on the partisan lean of that district based on two different scholarly sources.

Haven’t heard of partisan lean? No big deal, we’ve got you! Feel free to click on the question mark button in the upper right corner of your map to learn more about partisan lean and what the differences between sources might suggest. The second function of our map is our clickable pin icons. Each pin marks a location where there was a significant change or continuity in the Congressional map district. Please engage with our map by clicking on a pin to receive a short blurb on the redistricting process of that specific area. We’ve chosen to flag 14 separate counties and neighborhoods, and each pin details the politics of that district, making the information more accessible, clearer and easier to digest. If you’re interested in a visual representation of former Pennsylvania Congressional District maps to better understand the locations that we’ve chosen to pin, go ahead and check out our navigation options on the left side of the map below.

VotingMaps

Pennsylvania Voting Maps

The partisan breakdown of Pennsylvania’s new map

"Following the first Pennsylvania redistricting cycle this century with a divided government (For more information visit the Vote That Jawn page!) and the courts settled on the shown map. This map displays the partisan leanings of the districts according to 538 redistricting. The dark red districts (The 9th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th districts) are deemed safely Republican districts, the dark blue districts (The 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 12th districts) are deemed safely Democratic, while the light blue, light red and white districts are deemed to be competitive. This is the map you will often see in reference to these districts, but it is unlikely that the light blue districts seen on the map will be competitive this decade, the 2 light blue districts (the 4th and 6th) are said to be Democratic leaning but competitive, yet they voted for Biden by over 12 points each, the new 4th district in fact voted for Biden by nearly 20 percent, and the areas these 2 districts encompass have seen massive leftward shifts in recent years that are unlikely to stall, being anchored in the Philadelphia suburbs that have moved, like many suburbs across the country, leftward in recent years. The light red districts (the 8th and 10th) on the other hand are more competitive than let on in the map, the margin in both districts was less than 5% for trump in 2020 for both districts, and Democrats currently hold the 8th district and the 10th district (which was only mildly changed in redistricting) was competitive in both 2018 and 2020, having a margin of less than 3% in the former. The 8th district is likely designed to be a fair-fight district (a district that is almost always competitive) while the 10th district is made a Republican leaning, yet sometimes competitive, district, on the other hand the 4th and 6th districts by design are likely to be safely Democratic, with only the 6th district likely to be mildly competitive in only the most Republican friendly years. Lastly the white districts (The 1st, 7th, and 17th districts) are deemed to be highly competitive, the first of these is the 1st district which is currently the only district in the Philadelphia metro area to be held by a republican, and while the district may have voted narrowly for Democrats on the presidential level, less than 5% in 2020 and less than 1% in 2016, Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick has proved to have a stranglehold over the district winning it even in the Democratic wave year of 2018 and then winning it by over 10% in 2020, and now that the district has taken in more red areas of montgomery county it is unlikely that the district will be competitive in the next few elections, barring a solid Democratic wave year. The 7th district on the other hand is the perfect example of a fair-fight district, voting narrowly for Trump in 2016 and then narrowly for Biden in 2020, being the only district in PA to switch partisan alliance between the 2016 and 2020 presidential election. Lastly the 17th district, like the 1st district, has voted narrowly for Democrats on the Presidential level, but unlike the 1st district there is no strong incumbent running to keep the seat solidly in one party's hands. The 17th district has been represented by Democrat Connor Lamb for the past 4 years, but he is retiring to run for Senate, so the district that voted for Biden by less than 6 percent is likely to be one of the most competitive districts in the 2022 cycle as Democrats face serious headwinds in their fight for the house. Overall during 2022 the new map will likely feature 3 highly competitive races in the 7th, 8th and 17th districts."

2019 - 2023

This map was drawn through a mid-decade redistricting cycle initiated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after justices ruled the map drawn at the start of the decade was an invalid partisan gerrymander. The new map was meant to erase the partisan advantage created by the Republicans in the 2010 redistricting cycle, and it succeeded. As the 2018 midterms came to pass the partisan control went of Pennsylvania’s 18 former districts from a 12-6 split in favor of the Republican Party to an even 9-9 split. For the first time in 4 years, women were elected to Congress from Pennsylvania: Madeleine Dean (D-PA4), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA5), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA6) and Susan Wild (D-PA7). The map saw 2 new Democratic representatives elected in the Philadelphia area and 1 new Democratic representative from the Lehigh Valley. This map brought a fair compact map to Pennsylvania for the first time in the 21st century.