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

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It includes almost all of

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States ** Chester County Council, boy scout council in Pennsylvania. * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee, United States * Cheshire ...

and the southeastern portion of

Berks County Berks County (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading, the fourth-most populous city in the state. The ...

including the city of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and its southeastern suburbs. 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 (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Chrissy Houlahan Christina Marie 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 (United States), Democratic Party, she is serving as the United Stat ...

, 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 (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Judiciary of Pennsylvania, Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as ...

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

Jim Gerlach James William 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 c ...

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 Montgomery County may refer to: Australia * The former name of Montgomery Land District, Tasmania United Kingdom * The historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, also called County of Montgomery United States * Montgomery County, Alabama * Montg ...

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 The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

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. Ea ...

, 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 Congress in the 2014 m ...

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 army aviati ...

veteran

. Houlahan defeated McCauley in the general election.

Recent election results from statewide races

Historic 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 Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...

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 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 PVI or CPVI, is a measurement of how partisan a U.S. congressional district or U.S. state is. This partisanship is indicated as lean towards either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, com ...

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

and Lehigh County. The largest cities in the district were

and Norristown.

2013 to 2018

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

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

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.

Current counties and municipalities

; Berks County (19) : Birdsboro, Brecknock Township, Caernarvon Township, Cumru Township, Exeter Township (part; also

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

; includes Baumstown, Jacksonwald, Lorane, Reiffton, and part of Pennside and Stony Creek Mills), Kenhorst, Lower Alsace Township,

Mohnton Mohnton is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It had a population of 2,927 in the 2020 census. History The earliest post office in Mohnton was called Mohn's Store. A post office was established at Mohn's Store in 1857, the ...

, Mount Penn, New Morgan,

, Robeson Township, St. Lawrence, Sinking Spring, Shillington, Spring Townwship, Union Township, West Reading,

Wyomissing Wyomissing is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, adjacent to Reading. The borough was incorporated on July 2, 1906. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,114, compared to 10,461 at the 2010 census. The growth was s ...

Chester County (73) : All 73 municipalities

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

2024

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
{{coord, 40, 03, 37, N, 75, 38, 27, W, region:US_type:city_source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title 06 Constituencies established in 1791 1791 establishments in Pennsylvania Constituencies disestablished in 1793 1793 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Constituencies established in 1795 1795 establishments in Pennsylvania