Ten years ago, after many years of homogenous legislative representation, Warren County was split between two Senatorial districts, the 25th and the 21st.
Those two districts are currently represented by Sen. Pro Tem Joseph Scarnati and Sen. Mary Jo White respectively. Both are Republicans.
For much longer than that, the county has had only one state representative. The 65th District is currently represented by Rep. Kathy Rapp.
That is likely to change over the next several weeks during the decennial political catharsis known as redistricting.
The state GOP has offered a plan that would, in essence, reverse the political landscape of the county, giving it two state representatives and just one senator. Since the Republican Party controls both houses, and since most of the weak protest deals with districts downstate, the Warren County tentative map will more than likely be the one in effect for the coming decade.
Since Warren County and its neighbors to the east, south and west are fairly politically homogenous, the district adjustments here are basically no big deal. Rapp and Martin Causer, the representative from McKean County who would pick up Glade and Mead townships as well as the Borough of Clarendon are politically sympatico and even share an office in the Capitol. The 6th District, where Rapp would pick up Titusville, Centerville and surrounding townships, is also traditionally Republican turf.
Gerrymandering, the technique of adjusting districts to manipulate elections, doesn't apply here.
This is simply an adjustment; say goodbye to Scarnati and hello to Causer.