Pa. district may disappear soon
Even once winner declared, victory may be short-lived
CANONSBURG, Pa. — Pencil in Democrat Conor Lamb or Republican Rick Saccone as the next congressman in a U.S. House district in southwestern Pennsylvania. But erase their congressional district.
With the last batch of absentee ballots counted, Lamb, a 33-yearold former prosecutor and first-time candidate, saw his edge over Saccone shrink slightly, to 627 votes out of more than 224,000 cast, according to unofficial results.
Even after a winner is determined in the too-close-to-call vote from Tuesday’s special election, the prize may prove fleeting.
Pennsylvania’s Democratic-majority Supreme Court has ordered the redrawing of the state’s 18 congressional districts, the result of a gerrymandering lawsuit filed last year.
Unless a federal court intervenes soon, that new electoral map with 18 districts based on new boundaries will await voters and candidates in the May 15 primary and the Nov. 6 general election.
The Pittsburgh-area district that Lamb and Saccone vied for will vanish, along with the state’s 17 others districts, when Congress begins its next term in January. That means just 10 guaranteed months in office for Lamb or Saccone, to complete the term of GOP Rep. Tim Murphy.
Murphy, a strongly anti-abortion lawmaker, resigned last fall amid revelations that he had urged the woman with whom he was having an affair to get an abortion.
So what are the options for Lamb and Saccone? Time is short for a decision, even after an exhausting race and the outcome in doubt.
Congressional candidates who want to be on the Pennsylvania ballot in May must gather 1,000 signatures by Tuesday.
Under the new boundaries, Saccone’s home is in a Pittsburgh-based district that is heavily Democratic and home to longtime Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle. Instead of running there, Saccone is seeking signatures in a new southwestern Pennsylvania district.
Lamb is expected to run in a new district west of Pittsburgh against three-term Republican Rep. Keith Rothfus.