Politics & Government
Street Says Senate Congressional Draft Is Fair, Protects Minority Voters; Democrats Say He Sold Out
"I was tasked as the chair of state government, by our constitution, to negotiate with the Republicans and that's what we've been doing."
December 10, 2021
Facing social media scorn and internal party outrage, the lead Democratic architect of a negotiated map of Pennsylvania’s new congressional districts is defending the work product.
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State Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, cautioned that the map, made public on Wednesday night, is a draft and that negotiations with Senate State Government Committee Chairperson Sen. Dave Argall, R-Schuylkill, are ongoing. Street is the panel’s ranking Democrat.
However, Street said the leaked draft, which is dated Dec. 3, shores up the districts of key Democratic incumbents, protects Black and Latino voting populations, and mirrors maps produced by citizen redistricting groups.
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“I was tasked as the chair of state government, by our constitution, to negotiate with the Republicans and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Street told the Capital-Star on Thursday. “The fact that it was leaked is concerning, but it doesn’t change the fact that we have a job to do.”
The map, Street argues, preserves the chances for a Black candidate, such as state Rep. Summer Lee, D-Allegheny, to run and win in a Pittsburgh-based seat, but keep the city’s Democratic base whole.
Lee, one of the House’s most vocal progressive members, is seeking the Democratic nomination for the current 18th Congressional District. The incumbent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, of Pittsburgh, is retiring.
Street added that he talked to Lee about the lines, as well as at least 16 of his Democratic Senate colleagues.
“It wasn’t like two guys in a room with a couple staffers,” Street said. “This was a work product where lots and lots of staff [and] Senators had input.”
Meanwhile, the redrawn suburban Pittsburgh district, Street added, would remain competitive for Democrats without splitting Pittsburgh or neighboring, majority-Black municipalities.
The twisting, snake-like proposal in the Dec. 3 draft — which stretches from Beaver County to Indiana County — was still being edited, Street added.
On the other side of the state, the map also shores up incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan’s suburban Philadelphia district, which would improve from about 5 percent above average Democratic district to 12 percent, and keeps U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright’s northeastern Pennsylvania-based 8th District seat competitive, Street claimed.
“We don’t do a Democratic gerrymander. We don’t do a Republican gerrymander. We’re trying to be fair,” Street said.
As for northeastern Philadelphia, redistricting group Draw the Lines PA’s citizen’s map drew parts of the mostly white area into a Bucks County district. Street said he used those lines as a way to create a second Voting Rights Act-compliant district to protect minority political power.
“I was elected by people in the state Senate who believe that the Voting Rights Act matters,” Street said. “Most of our [state Senate] delegation has told me they believe the Voting Rights Act matters … Even the Senate Republicans, Senator Argall, have acknowledged that the Voting Rights Act is a valid consideration. And that’s got to be a part of this narrative.”
The new majority-minority district would be open to Street if he wanted to run, and many political observers expect he would. All Street would say Thursday is, “I’m not ruling anything out.”
Privately, Democratic political sources told the Capital-Star that the map was unacceptable, and protected Street’s own ambitions rather than the party or its goals.
“At a time when our House majority hangs by a thread, it’s a disgrace for any Democrat to conspire with Republicans to advance a Republican map, just to advance one’s selfish interests,” one Democratic source told the Capital-Star.
The map would also likely force a primary between current northeast Philadelphia U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-2nd District, and Street, were the state senator to run.
Boyle, another veteran Philadelphia lawmaker, would live instead in a suburban-anchored district, but congressional candidates do not have within the lines of the seat they run for.
The draft also matches the House proposal released Wednesday in a few places, including in how parts of Butler and Cumberland counties are split.
A staffer for Street said that’s because Republicans copied districts from the House map, drawn by redistricting advocate Amanda Holt, as a starting point.
Those craggy edges were under negotiation in more recent drafts as the parties balance population, splits, and competitive balance among other factors.
Argall confirmed that he was using the Holt map as a base for the Senate drafts.
Everything in the maps “is still subject to negotiation,” Argall said, but “the good news is people are talking.”
“There’s been a lot of discussions with the House, there’s been a lot of discussions with Senator Street,” Argall added.
Holt’s personal website includes four draft congressional maps for 2022, which echo but do not exactly match both the House and Senate drafts.
“The following set of maps were created to illustrate it is possible, using a minimal overall population range, to keep every municipality in Pennsylvania whole (except Philadelphia),” Holt wrote.
Holt was not immediately available for comment, but is set to testify at a House hearing on their map on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m.
To become law, the congressional map must pass the Republican-controlled General Assembly and be signed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
The Department of State, the executive branch agency charged with overseeing elections, said earlier this year that it needs the maps by Jan. 24 to allow for the state’s May 2022 primary to go on as scheduled.
Such a deadline, Argall told the Capital-Star is tight, but he believes it is manageable.
Legislative leaders had floated delaying next year’s primary to give lawmakers extra time to develop the congressional and legislative maps. However, Argall said there is not “any appetite for that” among Senate Republicans.
If the General Assembly cannot come to an agreement, the state Supreme Court would be tasked with drawing the maps. The court currently has a 5-2 liberal majority.
It was too early to say if the justices would have to step in, Argall added.
The Pennsylvania Capital-Star,a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site, delivers honest and aggressive coverage of state government, politics and policy. Since launching in February 2019, the Capital-Star has emerged as a go-to source for in-depth original reporting, explainers on complex topics, features that ground policy debates, and progressive commentary on a range of issues. The Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers.
