Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district
Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district includes all of Lehigh County and Northampton County as well as parts of Monroe County. The district is represented by Democrat Susan Wild.
From 2013 through 2018, the district incorporated parts of the Philadelphia suburbs, including most of Delaware County along with portions of Chester County, Montgomery County, Berks County, and Lancaster County. The district exhibited extreme non-congruity during that time as a result of gerrymandering. 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. Most of the population in the old 7th became part of a new fifth district, encompassing all of Delaware County and parts of South Philadelphia while most of the old 15th district became the new 7th district.
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.
Elections
| Year | Office | Results |
| 2002 | Representative | Weldon 66.09–33.91% |
| 2004 | President | Kerry 53–47% |
| 2004 | Representative | Weldon 58.8–40.3% |
| 2006 | Representative | Sestak 56.4–43.6% |
| 2008 | President | Obama 56–43% |
| 2008 | Representative | Sestak 59.6–40.4% |
| 2010 | Representative | Meehan 54.9–44.1% |
| 2012 | President | Romney 50.4–48.5% |
| 2012 | Representative | Meehan 59.4–40.6% |
| 2014 | Representative | Meehan 62.0–38.0% |
| 2016 | President | Clinton 49.3–47.0% |
| 2016 | Representative | Meehan 59.5–40.5% |
Geography
The 2003–2012 version of the district was located in southeastern Pennsylvania. It contained the western and northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia. It consisted of the majority of Delaware County, a portion of Chester County east of West Chester in the affluent Main Line area, and a portion of southern Montgomery County centered on Upper Merion Township.The 2013–2018 version of the district contained most of Delaware County outside of the City of Chester and the heavily African American townships and boroughs in the eastern portion of the county. It also contained parts of central Montgomery County, southern portions of Berks County, southern and central portions of Chester County, and a small portion of eastern Lancaster County. The District as it stood in October 2016 was named on NPR's On the Media as an egregious example of gerrymandering. The shape of the district was described as "Goofy kicking Donald Duck. The only point that is essentially contiguous there is Goofy's foot in Donald Duck's rear end. However these district lines are the building blocks of democracy, and when they get as perverted and twisted as this, it leads to deeply undemocratic outcomes." The Washington Post listed it as one of the ten most gerrymandered districts in the country.
On February 19, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania released a new congressional map after lawmakers had failed to agree on a map that would reduce gerrymandering. The map substantially redrew the District, relocating it to the Lehigh Valley. The newly redrawn district includes all of Lehigh County and Northampton County as well as parts of Monroe County.
Demographics
The district encompasses an area of diverse wealth, ranging from blue collar and working class households in the southeastern portions of Delaware County to the southern and western portions of the affluent Main Line area of Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. The district is the home of several major colleges and universities, including Haverford College; Villanova University; Penn State Brandywine; Delaware County Community College; Eastern University; and Cheyney University, the first traditionally black college in the U.S. The district is also the home of Boeing's helicopter facility in Ridley Park. Chester, the only city in Delaware County, is split between the 7th district and 1st Congressional District, but is mostly in the 1st district.List of members representing the district
1791 – 1793: One seat
District created in 1791.| Representative | Party | Years | Cong ress | Electoral history |
Thomas Hartley | Pro-Administration | March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793 | Redistricted from the and re-elected in 1791. Redistricted to the. |
District redistricted in 1793 to the.