Opinion: Be wary of misinformation about PA redistricting maps
Is scary Kerry very confused? Rep. Kerry Benninghoff is a Republican caucus leader serving on the PA Legislative Redistricting Commission (LRC). He is one of five members tasked with creating new voting district maps for PA House and Senate districts.
He voted against the proposed House map. Why? A recent photo in the Centre Daily Times shows him waving a close-up of the new oddly shaped House districts 84 in the Lycoming-Sullivan-Union county region. He was shocked — shocked! — that the manipulative Democrats gerrymandered a consistently Republican area into two districts that are — wait for it — still solidly Republican. Should we call this a Kerry-mander?
Let’s consider Benninghoff’s own new district 171. It relieves him of the pesky left-leaning State College area voters and guarantees him incumbent protection in a solidly conservative region extending south to Juniata County. Happily, the new map also promises two strongly progressive districts 77 and 82 in Centre County which put the entire State College Area School District back together.
By every measure, the proposed House map is a big improvement in un-gerrymandering and keeping Communities of Interest together across Pennsylvania. While not a legally required criteria, it is strongly favored by voters. The old map splits Centre County between four districts and minimizes the voice of State College’s community of voters with carefully crafted cracking. In the proposed new map our region’s rapidly growing population will have two districts to represent State College in particular.
Scary Kerry wasn’t very wary with the proposed Senate map, which is an abomination. He voted in favor of a map larded with incumbent protection. In Centre County, it cracks the largest State College Area School District, our Centre Region Council of Governments, and the Penn State community for no good reason. It puts us in two sprawling districts spreading north and west with whom we have minimal economic interaction. Local voters are infuriated already at the cracking we’ve endured since 2018 in our split between Congress 12 and 15. We certainly don’t want it in our Senate maps either.
What else would change? Senator Corman’s current Senate 34 will be squeezed like a banana out of a peel to a totally new region. That change protects Republican incumbents from running against each other. Despite being a purple state by voting history, the result of this Senate proposal could cement for 10 years deep red Senate districts across the middle Pennsylvania.
We should be very wary of scary Kerry and other scary legislators when they marry misinformation to their voters by conflating an odd shape with electoral manipulation. Many Republican legislators statewide are sending misinformation in their constituent mailings. In fact, every measurable metric demonstrates that both the House and Senate proposed maps still hold a partisan bias favoring Republicans.
Don’t be bamboozled.
What can you do about it? Do not tarry! LRC Chair Nordenberg will welcome and fully consider all comments before the Jan. 18 deadline. He is a model commission chairperson — receptive, attentive and nobody’s fool. Comment to him and the LRC at https://www.redistricting.state.pa.us/comment/. Tell him the districts must be designed for the voters’ needs and not incumbent protection. The House map does this. Say thank you. The Senate map does not. Ask him specifically to keep State College region community intact in the Senate map. The more he hears that message, the more likely improvements will be made. Say that it needs significant revision. Or suggest he throw it out and use the highly rated PA People’s Senate Map.
See all the proposed maps, other links, and learn more at www.FairDistrictsPA.com.