Personal Statement
For my entry into the competition, I prioritized three main categories: party advantage, minority representation, and communities of interest. My belief is that the more competitive a district is, the better it is for good governance, because neither candidate can be too extreme or polarizing and simply ignore a massive segment of their constituents. So I made as many districts as I could to be competitive. Five of my districts are within a 5% swing, so they could go either way in any year, and candidates must find widely-held common sense solutions to our problems. There are another three districts within a 17% swing, so with the right candidate in the right year, it can be extremely competitive. PA-8 for example is R+16% but Rep. Matt Cartwright would have a chance there if he focuses on local and bipartisan issues. I tried to make as many competitive districts as possible while also keeping together communities of interest, this is why I sometimes overrode county lines. For instance, Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York are all cities in southcentral PA that have much more in common with each other (such as diversity, ideology, and way of life) than Harrisburg does with Newport or York does with Red Lion. So I prioritized competitiveness plus communities of interest over county borders, which are subjective (not to mention there are 67 compared to 17 Congressional districts). Another example is how King of Prussia and Wayne have much more in common than King of Prussia does with Lansdale or Wayne does with Chester Heights. And finally I wanted to ensure that there were two minority-majority districts. PA-3 is majority Black which is extremely important to have. PA-2 is much more varied but also minority-majority. Candidates for the district will have to focus on the Black and Hispanic and Asian communities in addition to the white constituents. I think it's very important to have two minority-majority districts in our diverse state.
