Bucks Commissioners: Keep County In Single Congressional District

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The three Bucks County commissioners approved a resolution last week calling on the state to keep Bucks County in one congressional district.

The U.S. Census Bureau earlier this year released its decennial congressional apportionment counts based on data from the 2020 census. Pennsylvania is one of seven states that will lose a seat, starting with the 2022 midterms.

The commissioners approved a resolution that said splitting the county “would divide our community, create administrative problems and violate fair redistricting principles."

Bucks’ 54 municipalities and a slice of Montgomery County currently make up Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District, which is represented by Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. Statewide, the 18 congressional seats – nine held by Republicans and nine by Democrats – soon will be cut to 17.

In 2020, the First District constituents voted for Fitzpatrick, but also favored Democrat Joe Biden for president, making Bucks a decidedly "purple" county.

“I don’t think anybody in Bucks County wants to see (a split) happen - whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or whatever party you belong to,” said Republican County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo.

“We want to keep Bucks County intact,” said Commissioner Bob Harvie, a Democrat. “We know that there are other counties that are chopped up into pieces, but it would certainly make the job of elected officials, like ourselves, more difficult, and more complicated for voters.”

Congressional lines were last redrawn in 2018, when the state Supreme Court ruled that the map violated a state constitution prohibition on partisan gerrymandering. The ruling addressed a 2011 map approved under former Republican Governor Tom Corbett.

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