Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lost a single congressional seat as a result of census figures released Tuesday, the smallest reduction in its delegation in seven decades.

Reapportionment figures cut the state’s number of congressmen from 19 to 18 for the 2012 election, despite slight growth over the past decade in Pennsylvania’s total population, from 12.3 million to 12.7 million. The state’s growth rate of 3.4 percent lagged far behind the national rate of 12.7 percent.

The loss of only one seat is the fewest Pennsylvania has shed since 1940, when the number also fell by one, to 33. There were 36 Pennsylvania congressmen in the 1910s and 1920s.

In every other census since 1950, Pennsylvania has lost either two or three of its representatives in Washington.

The state Legislature and governor will decide over the coming year how to redraw the lines of the state’s congressional districts, a process that will require precinct-level population figures that are not expected to be released for several months. The changes are handled as legislation, and are subject to the governor’s veto like any other bill.

Population estimates issued over the past decade indicate the state’s western region has lost population, while southeastern areas — Chester County in particular — have experienced gains. That suggests the new congressional district map may consolidate two western districts.

Franklin and Marshall College political scientist Terry Madonna said the most likely candidate for elimination will be the Johnstown-based seat currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Critz.

“The one thing we know is it will be a Democratic seat removed, that we know, there’s no doubt about that, because Republicans control both chambers,” Madonna said. The governor also will be a Republican, Tom Corbett.