U.S. Congress 6th District Preview: Chrissy Houlahan Vs. Neil Young

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — Historically one of the more divisive U.S. congressional districts in eastern Pennsylvania, Chester and Berks county's sixth district has leaned to the left in recent years.

Incumbent Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan holds the rank of Captain in the US Air Force Reserves. She served three years active and 13 years inactive reserve. She worked as a chemistry teacher in North Philadelphia with Teach for America, before serving as the chief operating officer of AND1 Basketball. She helped found B-Lab, a non-profit promoting good business practices.

She's held her office since 2019. During that time, she's established herself as an establishment Democrat, typically in line with President Biden and Vice President Harris on all major issues.

She's challenged by Republican Neil Young, a public school history teacher and wrestling coach in Chester County for 22 years

The district

The 6th District is a entirely different animal in 2024 than was as recently as 2016. After the state's severely gerrymandered map was ruled unconstitutional in 2017, the 6th became much more Democrat friendly. It is now a more compact region that covers Chester County and part of Berks County, including the blue stronghold of Reading.

Recent results

Before the gerrymandered map was altered, the strangely designed district was held by Republican Congressman Ryan Costello. Costello was attacked by the far right for refusing to back Trump in 2016, and saw his popularity sharply wane, leading to him resigning ahead of the 2018 midterms.

That, along with the new district, paved the way for Houlahan, who won over conservative attorney Greg McCauley in 2018 by a large margin, 177,704 to 124,124.

In 2020, Houlahan won again with a very similar margin over John Emmons, 226,440 to 177,526, and then by an almost identical margin in 2022 over Guy Ciarrochi, 190,386 to 136,097.

This year's race

Unlike Montgomery County, Chester County has swiveled from right to left and back again in recent years, depending on the district. Democrats won historic victories in 2020 and again in 2022, turning over control of the county commissioner's office and sweeping state legislature offices that had not been held by the left in decades.

Still, the 6th district contains conservative strongholds, even with the new district containing the blue urban area of Reading, and Republicans are hopeful that dissatisfaction with the Biden administration and its acolytes will turn votes in such swing areas back to the right.