Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district

Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district
	Boundaries since the 2018 elections.
	Chrissy Houlahan; D–Devon
Population (2019)	735,283[1]
Median household; income	$85,665
Ethnicity	73.2% White; 15.8% Hispanic; 6.5% Black; 4.4% Asian; 0.1% Native American;
Cook PVI	D+2[2]

Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district is a district in the state of Pennsylvania. It includes almost all of Chester County, the city of Reading, and Reading's southeastern suburbs in Berks County. The district is represented by Democrat Chrissy Houlahan, who has served in Congress since 2019. As currently drawn, the district is among the wealthiest in Pennsylvania. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania redrew the district in February 2018 after ruling the previous map unconstitutional.[3]

Elections

Jim Gerlach served as the district's Representative from 2003 to 2014. In 2004 and 2006, Gerlach won re-election against fellow attorney and now Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Lois Murphy. In 2008, he successfully ran for re-election against businessman and veteran Bob Roggio. In the 2010 and 2012 elections, Gerlach defeated physician and Iraq War veteran Manan Trivedi, the Democratic nominee.

In January 2014, Gerlach announced that he would not stand for reelection to the 114th Congress. In the race to succeed Gerlach, Chester County Commissioner Ryan Costello won the Republican nomination and physician and Iraq war veteran Manan Trivedi secured the Democratic party's nomination.[4]

In February 2018, following the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's ordered redrawing of congressional districts, Costello announced he would not stand for reelection and retire at the end of the 115th Congress, leaving businessman Greg McCauley as the sole Republican candidate while the Democrats nominated Air Force veteran Chrissy Houlahan.[5] Houlahan defeated McCauley in the general election.[6]

Year	Office	Results
2002	Representative	Gerlach 51.4 - 48.6%
2004	President	Kerry 52 - 48%
2004	Representative	Gerlach 51 - 49%
2006	Representative	Gerlach 50.7 - 49.3%
2008	President	Obama 58 - 41%
2008	Representative	Gerlach 52.1 - 47.9%
2010	Representative	Gerlach 57.1 - 42.9%
2012	President	Romney 50.6 - 48.1%
2012	Representative	Gerlach 57.1 - 42.9%
2014	Representative	Costello 56.3 - 43.7%
2016	President	Clinton 47.6 - 47.0%
2016	Representative	Costello 57.3 - 42.7%
2018	Representative	Houlahan 58.8 - 41.1%
2020	President	Biden 50 - 48.8%
2020	Representative	Houlahan 56.1 - 43.9%

Geography

2003 to 2012

Prior to the court-ordered redistricting, the 6th district's incarnation dated back to 2002. Its strange shape brought charges of gerrymandering by Democrats who argued it "looms like a dragon descending on Philadelphia from the west, splitting up towns and communities throughout Montgomery and Berks Counties."[7] The combination of very affluent suburban areas of Philadelphia and sparsely populated rural areas was possibly designed to capture Republican voters, but changes in voting patterns in southeastern Pennsylvania has made the district much more competitive. The district had a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of R+1 after the 2012 redistricting. It was rated D+4 before then.[8] The district included parts of Montgomery County, Chester County, Berks County and Lehigh County. The largest cities in the district were Reading and Norristown.

2013 to 2018

The redistricting of 2011/2012 changed it to include parts of Chester, Montgomery, Berks and Lebanon counties. The following municipalities constituted the sixth district:[9]

Berks County

Townships	Boroughs
Alsace Bern Colebrookdale Cumru District 1,4,6,7 Exeter Heidelberg Herford District 2 Lower Alsace District 2 Lower Heidelberg Maidencreek Marion Muhlenberg 2,3,5,6,7,8,9 North Heidelberg Ontelaunee Penn Richmond Rockland Ruscombmanor South Heidelberg Spring District 5,7,8 Washington	Bally Bechtelsville Bernville Birdsboro Boyertown Fleetwood Kenhorst Laureldale District 1(part) Leesport Robesonia Shillington Sinking Spring St. Lawrence Wernersville Womelsdorf Wyomissing District 1,2,4,5

Chester County

Townships	Boroughs
Caln District 4 Charlestown East Bradford District 1 East Brandywine East Caln East Goshen East Nantmeal East Pikeland East Whiteland Easttown Londonderry North Coventry Schuylkill South Coventry Thornbury Tredyffrin Upper Uwchlan Uwchlan West Bradford District 1,2,3 West Goshen West Pikeland West Vincent West Whiteland Westtown Willistown	Downingtown Malvern Phoenixville Spring City West Chester

Lebanon County

Townships	Boroughs
Heidelberg Jackson Millcreek North Lebanon District E South Lebanon West Cornwall	Cornwall Myerstown Richland City of Lebanon Wards 1,2,4,5,7,8,9,10

Montgomery County

Townships	Boroughs
Douglass Limerick Lower Pottsgrove Lower Providence New Hanover Perkiomen District 1,2 Upper Hanover District 3 Upper Pottsgrove Upper Providence West Norriton District 1,2,3 West Pottsgrove	Collegeville East Greenville Pennsburg Pottstown Red Hill Royersford Schwenksville Trappe

2019

The court-ordered map made the 6th a more compact district in Berks and Chester counties.[3]

List of members representing the district

1791–1793: One seat

District created in 1791 from the at-large district.

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
Andrew Gregg	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793	2nd	Elected in 1791. Redistricted to the at-large district.

District redistricted in 1793 to the at-large district.

1795–1823: One seat, then two

District created in 1795.

Cong ress	Years	Seat A			Seat B
Cong ress	Years	Representative	Party	Electoral history	Representative	Party	Electoral history
4th	March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1797	Samuel Maclay	Democratic-Republican	Elected in 1794. Lost re-election.	Second seat added in 1813
5th 6th 7th	March 4, 1797 – March 3, 1803	John A. Hanna	Democratic-Republican	Elected in 1796. Re-elected in 1798. Re-elected in 1800. Redistricted to the 4th district.
8th	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1805	John Stewart	Democratic-Republican	Redistricted from the 8th district and re-elected in 1802. Lost re-election.
9th 10th	March 4, 1805 – March 3, 1809	James Kelly	Federalist	Elected in 1804. Re-elected in 1806. Lost re-election.
11th 12th	March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1813	William Crawford	Democratic-Republican	Elected in 1808. Re-elected in 1810. Redistricted to the 5th district.
13th	March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1815	Samuel D. Ingham	Democratic-Republican	Elected in 1812. Re-elected in 1814. Re-elected in 1816. Resigned.	Robert Brown	Democratic-Republican	Redistricted from the 2nd district and re-elected in 1812. Re-elected in 1814. Retired.
14th	March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817				John Ross	Democratic-Republican	Elected in 1814. Re-elected in 1816. Resigned to become president judge of the seventh judicial district of Pennsylvania.
15th	March 4, 1817 – February 24, 1818				John Ross	Democratic-Republican
	February 24, 1818 – March 3, 1818				Vacant
	March 3, 1818 – July 6, 1818				Thomas Jones Rogers	Democratic-Republican	Elected to finish Ross's term. Also elected 1818 to the next term. Re-elected in 1820. Redistricted to the 8th district.
	July 6, 1818 – October 13, 1818	Vacant
	October 13, 1818 – March 3, 1819	Samuel Moore	Democratic-Republican	Elected to finish Ingham's term. Also elected 1818 to the next term. Re-elected in 1820. Resigned.
16th	March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1821
17th	March 4, 1821 – May 20, 1822
	May 20, 1822 – October 7, 1822	Vacant
	October 7, 1822 – March 3, 1823	Samuel D. Ingham	Democratic-Republican	Elected to finish Moore's term. Redistricted to the 8th district.

1823 – present: One seat

Member	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
Robert Harris	Jackson Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th 19th	Elected in 1822. Re-elected in 1824. Retired.
Robert Harris	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1827	18th 19th	Elected in 1822. Re-elected in 1824. Retired.
Innis Green	Jacksonian	March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1831	20th 21st	Elected in 1826. Re-elected in 1828. Retired.
John C. Bucher	Jacksonian	March 4, 1831 – March 3, 1833	22nd	Elected in 1830. Redistricted to the 10th district.
Robert Ramsey	Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	23rd	Elected in 1832. Retired.
Mathias Morris	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837	24th 25th	Elected in 1834. Re-elected in 1836. Lost re-election.
Mathias Morris	Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839	24th 25th	Elected in 1834. Re-elected in 1836. Lost re-election.
John Davis	Democratic	March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1841	26th	Elected in 1838. Lost re-election.
Robert Ramsey	Whig	March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843	27th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Michael H. Jenks	Whig	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845	28th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Jacob Erdman	Democratic	March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1847	29th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
John Westbrook Hornbeck	Whig	March 4, 1847 – January 16, 1848	30th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		January 17, 1848 – March 5, 1848
Samuel A. Bridges	Democratic	March 6, 1848 – March 3, 1849		[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Thomas Ross	Democratic	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1853	31st 32nd	[data unknown/missing]
William Everhart	Whig	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd	[data unknown/missing]
John Hickman	Democratic	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859	34th 35th 36th 37th	[data unknown/missing]
	Anti-Lecompton Democratic	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861
	Republican	March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863
John D. Stiles	Democratic	March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1865	38th	[data unknown/missing]
Benjamin M. Boyer	Democratic	March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1869	39th 40th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
John D. Stiles	Democratic	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871	41st	Redistricted from the 7th district. [data unknown/missing] Retired.
Ephraim L. Acker	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873	42nd	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
James S. Biery	Republican	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	43rd	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Washington Townsend	Republican	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877	44th	Redistricted from the 7th district. [data unknown/missing] Retired.
William Ward	Republican	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1883	45th 46th 47th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
James B. Everhart	Republican	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887	48th 49th	[data unknown/missing] Lost renomination.
Smedley Darlington	Republican	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1891	50th 51st	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
John B. Robinson	Republican	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1897	52nd 53rd 54th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Thomas S. Butler	Independent Republican	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1899	55th 56th 57th	[data unknown/missing]
Thomas S. Butler	Republican	March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1903	55th 56th 57th	[data unknown/missing]
George D. McCreary	Republican	March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1913	58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
J. Washington Logue	Democratic	March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1915	63rd	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
George P. Darrow	Republican	March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1923	64th 65th 66th 67th	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 7th district.
George A. Welsh	Republican	March 4, 1923 – May 31, 1932	68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd	[data unknown/missing] Resigned to become a district court judge
Vacant		May 31, 1932 – November 8, 1932	72nd
Robert L. Davis	Republican	November 8, 1932 – March 3, 1933	72nd	[data unknown/missing]
Edward L. Stokes	Republican	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935	73rd	Redistricted from the 2nd district. Retired to run for Governor.
Michael J. Stack	Democratic	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1939	74th 75th	[data unknown/missing] Lost renomination and lost re-election under a different party.
Francis J. Myers	Democratic	January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1945	76th 77th 78th	[data unknown/missing]
Herbert J. McGlinchey	Democratic	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947	79th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Hugh Scott	Republican	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1959	80th 81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Herman Toll	Democratic	January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1963	86th 87th	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 4th district.
George M. Rhodes	Democratic	January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1969	88th 89th 90th	Redistricted from the 14th district. Retired.
Gus Yatron	Democratic	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1993	91st 92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Tim Holden	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2003	103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 17th district.
Jim Gerlach	Republican	January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2015	108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th	Elected in 2002. Retired.
Ryan Costello	Republican	January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2019	114th 115th	Elected in 2014. Retired.
Chrissy Houlahan	Democratic	January 3, 2019 – present	116th 117th	Elected in 2018.

Recent election results

2012

Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, 2012[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Gerlach (Incumbent)	191,725	57.1
	Democratic	Manan Trivedi	143,803	42.9
Total votes			335,528	100.0
	Republican hold

2014

Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, 2014[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ryan Costello	119,643	56.3
	Democratic	Manan Trivedi	92,901	43.7
Total votes			212,544	100.0
	Republican hold

2016

Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, 2016[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ryan Costello (incumbent)	207,469	57.2
	Democratic	Mike Parrish	155,000	42.8
Total votes			362,469	100.0
	Republican hold

2018

Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, 2018[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Chrissy Houlahan	177,704	58.9
	Republican	Greg McCauley	124,124	41.1
Total votes			301,828	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

2020

Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district, 2020[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Chrissy Houlahan (incumbent)	226,440	56.1
	Republican	John Emmons	177,526	43.9
Total votes			403,966	100.0
	Democratic hold

Historical district boundaries

2003–2013
2013–2019

References

https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=42&cd=06
"New Pennsylvania Map Is a Major Boost for Democrats". The Cook Political Report. February 20, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
Cohn, Nate; Bloch, Matthew; Quealy, Kevin (February 19, 2018). "The New Pennsylvania House Districts Are In. We Review the Mapmakers' Choices". The Upshot. The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
http://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania's_6th_Congressional_District_elections,_2014
Prokop, Andrew (2018-05-16). "These 6 Pennsylvania Democratic nominees are key to the battle for House control". Vox. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
Burke, Michael (2018-11-06). "Democrat Chrissy Houlahan elected to House in Pennsylvania". TheHill. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
VIETH et al. v. JUBELIRER, PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SENATE, et al., 541 U.S. 267 (United States Supreme Court 2004) (see http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=02-1580) (plurality opinion of Court holding political gerrymandering claims in the District nonjusticiable based on the lack of workable standards)
"2012 COMPETITIVE HOUSE RACE CHART". The Cook Political Report. The Cook Political Report. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
https://costello.house.gov/about/municipalities
"2018 General Election: Representative in Congress". Pennsylvania Secretary of State. November 6, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.

Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

External links

Congressional redistricting in Pennsylvania

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[1] ttps://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=42&cd=06

[Cook-2] "New Pennsylvania Map Is a Major Boost for Democrats". The Cook Political Report. February 20, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2017.

[new-3] Cohn, Nate; Bloch, Matthew; Quealy, Kevin (February 19, 2018). "The New Pennsylvania House Districts Are In. We Review the Mapmakers' Choices". The Upshot. The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2018.

[4] ttp://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania's_6th_Congressional_District_elections,_2014

[5] Prokop, Andrew (2018-05-16). "These 6 Pennsylvania Democratic nominees are key to the battle for House control". Vox. Retrieved 2019-01-04.

[6] Burke, Michael (2018-11-06). "Democrat Chrissy Houlahan elected to House in Pennsylvania". TheHill. Retrieved 2019-01-04.

[7] VIETH et al. v. JUBELIRER, PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SENATE, et al., 541 U.S. 267 (United States Supreme Court 2004) (see http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=02-1580) (plurality opinion of Court holding political gerrymandering claims in the District nonjusticiable based on the lack of workable standards)

[RaceRatings-8] "2012 COMPETITIVE HOUSE RACE CHART". The Cook Political Report. The Cook Political Report. Retrieved March 27, 2012.

[9] ttps://costello.house.gov/about/municipalities

[Generalelection-11] "2018 General Election: Representative in Congress". Pennsylvania Secretary of State. November 6, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.