If court’s map stands, Saccone says he’ll run and win in reconfigured Washington-Greene area
State Rep. Rick Saccone, who’s running for Congress in the 18th District in the March 13 special election, is gearing up for yet another contest in the May primary and November general election even if a redrawn map excludes his home community from a new district in the southwestern corner of the state.
According to Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s map released Monday, both Saccone, 60, of Elizabeth Township, and Conor Lamb, 33, of Mt. Lebanon, find themselves living outside the district in which they’re now running to succeed former U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, who resigned in October amid scandal.
The third candidate in the race is Libertarian Drew Gray Miller, 37, of Pittsburgh’s South Side, who already lives outside the current configuration of the 18th Congressional District.
On Tuesday, Saccone, in an interview with the editorial board of the Observer-Reporter, called the state Supreme Court’s map “horrible.” It creates a District 14 that begins in the southwesternmost corner of the state, fanning out to include all of Greene, Washington and Fayette counties and about half of Westmoreland, but no turf in the Allegheny County part of the Mon Valley, where Saccone resides.
The Saccone family home in Elizabeth Township would be part of a brand-new 18th District that would include the city of Pittsburgh, which incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle now represents, and the southeastern corner of Allegheny County.
Saccone sees the state Supreme Court’s action in two ways.
“First, they’ve exceeded their own jurisdiction and authority, so you have basically a constitutional crisis on your hands. And second, the map that they came up with is more gerrymandered than what they were complaining about. It’s horrible, and I thought we had given them a better map according to what they wanted.
“I’m hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will step in and bring some sanity to this and put the separation of powers back in the balance that it’s supposed to be in.”
Republicans were filing a federal court challenge Wednesday to the state Supreme Court’s map, but if the map stands, Saccone was asked if he is inclined to run in the Doyle district.
“Since I already represent – assuming I win this special election, I’ll be representing people in that area – I would be inclined to run in the 14th District,” he replied.
There is no requirement in Pennsylvania that a representative in Congress live within a district’s boundaries.
Saccone described Elizabeth Township as “one mile outside the border, so I’m conveniently out of the district,” and went on to describe his ties to Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland County, where he has taught at St. Vincent College in Latrobe for 18 years.
He has spoken and campaigned at veterans’ organizations, lodges, Rotary clubs, Christian schools and churches throughout the reconfigured 14th District.
Lamb’s municipality, meanwhile, would be part of the 17th District, including about half of Allegheny County and all of Beaver County, an area that’s now represented by Republican U.S. Congressman Keith Rothfus.
Asked for a statement on the state Supreme Court congressional district map, Lamb’s campaign issued the following comments on his behalf: “As I’ve said from the beginning of this campaign, I will be running for a full term in Congress in 2018.
“I am entirely focused on the March 13 special election in the 18th District right now. … I am running for this seat now, and I will be running later no matter where they draw the lines.”
Miller, an attorney, speculated Wednesday about the state Supreme Court’s map, saying, “I think that it will stand. It was truly independent of the two parties’ gerrymandered maps.”
Asked about his plans for the Nov. 6 general election, the Libertarian said, “It might be worth trying to take on Doyle.”
The March 13 special election was necessitated by Murphy’s resignation in October after the married congressman, on record as opposing abortion, reportedly urged his mistress to undergo the procedure during a pregnancy scare.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision is the first time a state court threw out congressional boundaries in a partisan gerrymandering case. A group of registered Democratic voters, backed by the League of Women Voters, filed suit last June claiming that Republicans who created the districts did so to exclude Democrats from Congress.