Chapter 5 Political Geography

In the past decade, no political party has been clearly dominant in Pennsylvania. This, combined with Pennsylvania's rank of 6th in the country in population and holding 21 electoral votes, has made it one of the most important swing states. The capital of the Commonwealth is Harrisburg. The legislature meets in the new State Capitol there. The current Governor is Ed Rendell, a former head of the Democratic National Committee who began as a popular District Attorney and mayor in Philadelphia.

Democrats are strong in urban Philadelphia and the areas of Pittsburgh, Reading, Allentown, Erie, Johnstown, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Republicans are generally dominant in the vast rural areas that make up the balance of the Commonwealth. Traditionally, Republicans have also fared well in the densely populated and wealthy suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but in the 1990s and 2000s many of these suburbs began to associate more with the Democratic Party.

In the 2004 Presidential Election, Senator John F. Kerry beat President George W. Bush in Pennsylvania 2,938,095 (50.92%) to 2,793,847 (48.42%).

Pennsylvania State Senate

Pittsburgh is represented in three Districts in the State Senate, all Democrats.

District	Senator	Party
38	Jim Ferlo	Democratic
42	Wayne D. Fontana	Democratic
42	Jay Costa	Deomcartic

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Pittsburgh is represented in nine Districts in the State House, all Democrats.

District	Representative	Party
19	Jake Wheatley	Democratic
20	Don Walko	Democratic
21	Lisa Bennington	Democratic
22	Chelsa Wagner	Democratic
23	Dan Frankel	Democratic
24	Joseph Preston Jr.	Democratic
27	Thomas C. Petrone	Democratic
34	Paul Costa	Democratic
26	Harry Readshaw	Democratic

Information obtained from: www.politicspa.com