Editorial: No redistricting in Pennsylvania

Every 10 years, America asks the people to stand up and be counted. This is not about statistics. It’s not keeping score. It is about representation.

Congress’ two chambers are populated in different ways. In the Senate, every state is equal. From tiny Rhode Island to powerhouses like Florida and New York, there are two senators apiece. The House of Representatives, on the other hand, has seats allotted based on the number of people who live in each state.

Since 1929, the number of representatives has been established at 435. How those are divided is determined based on the U.S. Census, which takes place every 10 years.

That is one of the first things outlined in the U.S. Constitution. In Article 1, Section 2, the founders outlined their objective for a proportional chamber. It predates the writing of the Bill of Rights by two years and the ratification by four. The intention to make sure the division of representatives was redistributed every 10 years was one of the first things we decided as a country.

It has not always been easy, and it has not always been right.

In 1812, Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed off on a new district map so partisan that we still call this attempt to rig the game “gerrymandering.”

The idea with gerrymandering is for the state lawmakers in power to carve shapes that would make sure the roughly 700,000 people in a congressional district would mathematically ensure a win for the majority. Democrats and Republicans alike have been guilty of it when they hold the reins.

The issue now is that the opportunity to gerrymander is too far away for some. The next census won’t happen until 2030. The maps will come two or three years later.

But that hasn’t stopped GOP-controlled Texas, encouraged by President Donald Trump, from passing a new map in August in an attempt to swing five seats to the Republicans. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom countered with a similar plan for California. Other states on both sides are threatening to do the same.

Pennsylvania will not be one of them.

It would be nice to think this is because the Keystone State, where our nation was born and nurtured, is above this kind of shameful partisanship. Hardly. Pennsylvania has had its own accusations of gerrymandering, with the courts getting involved to settle the matter.

But what Pennsylvania doesn’t have — but Texas and California do — is uniformity in government. Both states are firmly in the hands of one party.

Texas has a Republican governor, secretary of state and attorney general. Republicans hold the majority in the state Senate and House by a wide margin. The party has maintained an iron grip on the Lone Star State since 2003.

The Democrats do the same in California, where all three executive offices and both chambers are blue. That party’s grip is tighter on the legislature in recent years, giving up just one year to Republicans in 1996, but looser with the governor’s mansion. Arnold Schwarzenegger got to live there from 2004 to 2011.

But in Pennsylvania, only the state Senate has that kind of lock. Since 1992, only one year has not been under GOP control. The House tends Republican but goes through spurts of Democratic majority, like it has had since 2023. The governor’s office, on the other hand, passes back and forth. Right now, it is held by Democrat Josh Shapiro.

The governor and the two chambers historically, regardless of control, find trouble agreeing on much of anything, as evidenced by their perpetual inability to pass a budget on time. We are in the third month without coming to an agreement on that.

It would be impossible for the state’s lawmakers and executive to come to a consensus on a new redistricting map in an off year. It’s frankly remarkable it was accomplished in 2022 when it was supposed to happen.

Perhaps the dysfunction of lockjawed partisanship is good for something sometimes after all.