The newly enacted district lines give Republicans a partisan edge in Pennsylvania’s new 7th Congressional District.
The new 7th district has a partisan rating of R+4, according to Nate Silver’s fivethirtyeight. Prior to the Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s selection of the new district lines, PA-7 had an even partisan rating.
The Cook Political Report rates the race for the seat as a tossup.
PA-7 is currently represented by incumbent Democrat U.S. Representative Susan Wild (D-Pennsylvania). Wild has represented the 7th district since 2019. In her 2020 campaign for reelection, she defeated former Republican Lehigh County Commissioner Lisa Scheller, 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent.
As of press time, Wild is running for reelection. FEC records show that Wild has raised $2,143,240.73 and has a war chest of $1,705,721.90 cash on hand.
Wild was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a 2018 under an unusual set of circumstances. Wild won the Democrat primary and normal general election for a new 7th congressional district to serve a full term that began in 2019. On the same day that she was elected to the U.S. House from the then-new PA-7, she ran in and won a special election for PA-15 by a razor-thin margin, which was held to succeed Republican Rep. Charlie Dent, who had announced his retirement from Congress and resigned rather than serve the remainder of his term.
In addition to Dent’s resignation triggering a special election to coincide with the normal congressional elections, there was also a special election for Republican U.S. Representative’s Pat Meehan’s then-7th district seat, as he resigned rather than serve the remainder of his term as well.
The 2018 special elections for the remainder of the resigned congressmen’s terms that took place for the previous PA-15 and PA-7 were the last elections that occurred under the configurations drawn by the Pennsylvania legislature in 2011. As part of their ruling in the League of Women Voters v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated the old lines and later selected the new maps themselves. Much of the previous 7th district became the new 5th district, and most of the previous 15th district became the new 7th district.
Wild was on the normal ballot for PA-7 and on the special election ballot for the previous PA-15. Democrat U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon was on the normal ballot for PA-5 and the special election ballot for the previous PA-7. Scanlon currently represents PA-5 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Wild served the remaining few months of Rep. Dent’s term for the previous PA-15 in 2018 and then was sworn in as the new U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s then-new 7th Congressional district in January 2019.
According to data compiled by fivethirtyeight, as of January 20, 2022, Wild’s record shows that she has voted 100% of the time in line with the Biden administration agenda. In 2019, Wild voted in favor of both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
Former Republican Lehigh County Commissioner Lisa Scheller is again running for the seat. FEC records show that she has raised $1,457,845.22 and has $1,005,977.18 on hand as of the December 31, 2021 deadline.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) previously said that they are targeting PA-7 for Republican takeover.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR.
Photo “Susan Wild” by U.S. House Office of Photography. Background Photo “Pennsylvania State Capitol” by Ad Meskens. CC BY-SA 3.0.
