Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district is a district in the state of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It includes all of

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee Chester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, th ...

, the city of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, and Reading's southeastern suburbs in

Berks County Berks County (Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River, ...

. The district is represented by

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Chrissy Houlahan Christina Marie "Chrissy" Houlahan ( ; née Jampoler; born June 5, 1967) is an American politician, engineer, and former United States Air Force officer. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the U.S. representative from . The district inclu ...

, who has served in Congress since 2019. As currently drawn, the district is among the wealthiest in Pennsylvania. The

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...

redrew the district in February 2018 after ruling the previous map unconstitutional.

Elections

Jim Gerlach James W. Gerlach (born February 25, 1955) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2003 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Gerlach retired from Congress after completing his sixth term. Early life, education and caree ...

served as the district's Representative from 2003 to 2014. In 2004 and 2006, Gerlach won re-election against fellow attorney and now Montgomery County

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

Judge Lois Murphy. In 2008, he successfully ran for re-election against businessman and veteran Bob Roggio. In the 2010 and 2012 elections, Gerlach defeated physician and

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

veteran

Manan Trivedi Manan Trivedi (born May 22, 1974) is an American physician, politician, Iraq War veteran and perennial candidate. He was the Democratic nominee for in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 elections, losing to his Republican opponents in each election. Ear ...

, the Democratic nominee. In January 2014, Gerlach announced that he would not stand for reelection to the 114th Congress. In the race to succeed Gerlach, Chester County Commissioner

Ryan Costello Ryan Anthony Costello (born September 7, 1976) is an American politician, lobbyist and attorney who served as the U.S. representative for from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representa ...

won the Republican nomination and physician and Iraq war veteran Manan Trivedi secured the Democratic party's nomination. In February 2018, following the

's ordered redrawing of congressional districts, Costello announced he would not stand for reelection and retire at the end of the 115th Congress, leaving businessman Greg McCauley as the sole Republican candidate while the Democrats nominated

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

veteran

. Houlahan defeated McCauley in the general election.

Geography

2003 to 2012

Prior to the court-ordered redistricting, the 6th district's incarnation dated back to 2002. Its strange shape brought charges of

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

by Democrats who argued it "looms like a dragon descending on Philadelphia from the west, splitting up towns and communities throughout Montgomery and Berks Counties." The combination of very affluent suburban areas of Philadelphia and sparsely populated rural areas was possibly designed to capture

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

voters, but changes in voting patterns in southeastern

has made the district much more competitive. The district had a

Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...

score of R+1 after the 2012 redistricting. It was rated D+4 before then. The district included parts of Montgomery County,

and Lehigh County. The largest cities in the district were

and

Norristown Norristown may mean: * Norristown, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a municipality with home ...

2013 to 2018

The redistricting of 2011/2012 changed it to include parts of Chester, Montgomery, Berks and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

counties. The following municipalities constituted the sixth district: Berks County Chester County Lebanon County Montgomery County

2019

The court-ordered map made the 6th a more compact district in Berks and Chester counties.

List of members representing the district

1791–1793: One seat

District created in 1791 from the . District redistricted in 1793 to the .

1795–1823: One seat, then two

District created in 1795.

1823 – present: One seat

Recent election results

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

Historical district boundaries

File:United States House of Representatives, Pennsylvania District 6 map.png, 2003–2013 File:Pennsylvania US Congressional District 6 (since 2013).tif, 2013–2019 File:Pennsylvania Congressional District 6.png, 2019–2023

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

External links

Congressional redistricting in Pennsylvania
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