Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district | |
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Representative | |
Population (2023) | 778,593 |
Median household income | $79,206 |
Ethnicity |
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Cook PVI | R+2[1] |
Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district includes all of Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties, and parts of Monroe County. The district is represented by Democrat Susan Wild. She was defeated by Republican Ryan Mackenzie and he will take office with the new congress in January 2025.
From March 2003 through 2018, the district incorporated parts of the Philadelphia suburbs, including most of Delaware County, along with portions of Chester, Montgomery, Berks, and Lancaster Counties. The district exhibited extreme non-congruity during that time as a result of gerrymandering.[2] On January 22, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the map violated the state constitution, and in February, it issued its own district boundaries for use in the 2018 elections and representation thereafter.[3] Most of the population in the old 7th district became part of a new 5th district, encompassing all of Delaware County and parts of South Philadelphia; while most of the old 15th district became the new 7th district.[4][5] In the 2020 redistricting cycle, Carbon County was added into the district, in exchange for the area around East Stroudsburg in Monroe County.
Pat Meehan, who had represented the old 7th district since 2011, resigned on April 27, 2018, amid a sexual harassment case. Mary Gay Scanlon won the special election on November 6, 2018, to replace him for the remainder of his term, and she served for slightly less than two months as the last representative for the old 7th district before being transferred to the newly redrawn 5th district. Susan Wild won the general election in the newly redrawn 7th district, and she took office January 3, 2019.
The district was identified as a presidential bellwether by Sabato's Crystal Ball, having voted for the Electoral College winner in the past four presidential elections as of 2020.[6]