Pennsylvania high court issues new congressional map

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a new state congressional map Monday, redrawing the lines it ruled Republicans unconstitutionally gerrymandered. Last month, the court threw out the existing congressional map and told state lawmakers to draw a new one. Republicans submitted one on Feb. 6, but Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, invalidated it four days later. Wolf drew his own map, but the court opted to step in after deciding it unlikely either party would agree on a new map before the state’s primary elections in May. Pennsylvania went for President Donald Trump in 2016 but has skewed toward Democrats in recent years. Despite that trend, the previous congressional map helped secure 13 of the state’s 18 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives for Republicans in the last election cycle. The new map issued Monday likely will help Democrats battling in close elections, although it won’t apply to next month’s special election to replace Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., who resigned over a sex scandal. But it will apply to the May 15 primary, unless Republicans succeed in their planned appeal.