Welcome to the 5th.
Say goodbye to the 7th and 1st.
Two different courts yesterday turned thumb's down to Republican appeals of the new Congressional map for Pennsylvania enacted by the state Supreme Court.v
You know, the one that puts all of Delaware County into one district - the 5th - along with a sliver of Montgomery County on the Main Line and a bit of South Philly.
The court acted after their earlier ruling that the Congressional district map in use since 2011, done by the Republican state Legislature, was unconstitutionally gerrymandered to favor Republicans.
Republicans filed a number of appeals during just about every step of the process.
All of them failed.
The result? The new map will be in effect for the May 15 primary. Even most Republican officials who fought against the new map seem resigned to the new shape, which most experts believe will make it easier for Democrats to regain some of the seats they have consistently been losing to Republicans. The GOP holds a 13-5 edge in the state's Congressional delegation.
We have reaction from both party leaders in Delaware County.
And we note that Delco Republicans have offered an endorsement in the 5th District race. They're standing behind Pearl Kim, a former assistant district attorney here in Delco and also a former senior deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania. Several other Republicans have dropped out of the race. What we don't know yet is whether any of the remaining Republicans will challenge Kim in the GOP Primary, in particular Clare Putnam Pozos, a former assistant U.S. attorney.
Democrats still have as many as 15 candidates seeking the nod. Party leader David Landau said Democrats likely will try to unite behind a candidate and offer an endorsement sometime after today's filing deadline.
Today is the last day for Congressional hopefuls to file their nominating petitions. We'll be back with a full update on who's running and who's not.
In the meantime, here is our editorial. The new map is a clear improvement over the old one. Most of all, yesterday's court rulings clear up at least some of the confusion that has shrouded the race.
Read it here.
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