State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

PA: Republicans will sue to block court-drawn Pennsylvania congressional map

Reuters: State and national Republican officials will file a federal lawsuit as soon as Wednesday seeking to block a new Pennsylvania congressional map released on Monday by the state’s high court, the party’s congressional campaign arm said on Tuesday.

The new map would give Democrats better odds of capturing as many as half a dozen U.S. House of Representatives seats in Pennsylvania, where Republicans currently hold 13 of the 18 seats. The Democrats need to flip 24 seats nationally in November’s mid-term elections to retake control of the House.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court drew a new map for the state’s 18 congressional districts after previously invalidating the existing lines as an unconstitutional gerrymander, finding the Republican-controlled legislature drew them to marginalize Democratic voters.

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