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PA Commission Votes for New Maps

The Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted Thursday in favor of new preliminary district maps over sharp objections from the House’s Republican leader, as a large increase in the state’s minority population helped shape big changes. The maps also reflect general population changes in the past decade, which have favored Democratic-leaning areas in the southeast, cities and suburbs, as more conservative areas in northern and western Pennsylvania lost population or grew more slowly. The panel voted 5-0 for the Senate plan and 3-2 for the House plan, with both Republicans opposed to it. The maps of 203 House seats and 50 Senate seats could have a dramatic effect on entrenched Republican majorities in the state Legislature. Republicans effectively drew the existing district maps in the state where Democrats hold a registration edge of 4 million to the GOP’s 3.4 million.

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