Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — It’s showtime for Pennsylvania’s brand-new legislative districts. The revamped state House and Senate lines were approved by a commission
A Republican candidate in a newly drawn House district encouraged people to fly the Confederate flag, questioned President Obama’s birthplace as recently as 2019 and called Islam “a plaque.” Stephen Doerr is running against Rep. Gene Pelowski, DLF-Winona, in House District 26A, which is now in the Winona area after redistricting. Pelowski was first elected in 1986 and has often sailed to reelection, but the newly drawn district is solidly purple.