Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) on Tuesday rejected a new district map drawn by GOP lawmakers, bringing the state closer to handing its redistricting process over to a court. The GOP map was drawn after the state Supreme Court struck down the state’s current congressional map in a gerrymandering case. Wolf’s press office confirmed that the governor told Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court that he won’t approve the new congressional lines on the grounds that it’s a “partisan gerrymander that does not comply with the court’s order” or state constitution. “Partisan gerrymandering weakens citizen power, promotes gridlock and stifles meaningful reform,” Wolf said in a statement. “As non-partisan analysts have already said, their map maintains a similar partisan advantage by employing many of the same unconstitutional tactics present in their 2011 map.”
State GOP lawmakers submitted a new map to Wolf last Friday, just ahead of the court-ordered deadline for new lines. A chief of staff to the state Senate president said lawmakers drew more compact districts and sought to avoid dividing counties, cities and towns.
Following the release of the proposed map, Pennsylvania Democrats immediately pushed back on the new lines and urged the governor to reject it.
The governor had until Thursday to decided whether to approve the map. That means the state Supreme Court will likely handle redrawing new congressional lines and it would have until Feb. 19 to draw the new map.
Full Article: Pa. gov rejects proposed redistricting map from GOP lawmakers | TheHill.