New maps impact bring change for voters on western edge of county
Voters in western Warren County will switch state Senate districts as a result of a redistricting plan upheld by the state Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Under the maps that governed the last election, four townships — Columbus, Spring Creek, Eldred and Southwest — had been split as part of the 50th District, represented by Michele Brooks, while the rest of the county was part of the 21st, represented by Scott Hutchinson.
The Legislative Reapportionment Commission’s plan would bring the county entirely into the 21st District.
For the next 10 years, the district will include part of Butler County and all of Clarion, Forest, Venango and Warren counties.
It also covers a bit of Erie County, including the City of Corry along with Elgin and Concord and Wayne townships.
Total population is 258,167 for the newly-formed district.
Warren County remains entirely in the 65th District in the House of Representatives, currently represented by Kathy Rapp.
The 61,937 people in that district will include all of Warren and Forest counties as well as part of Crawford County — nine townships and boroughs including Cambridge Springs, Saegertown and Spartansburg.
For the Congressional maps, the Supreme Court selected what they called the “Carter Plan” after Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a plan from the General Assembly.
“There is no perfect plan, nor can there be, as many of the criteria work at cross-purposes to each other and require mapmakers to balance opposing criteria,” the order states. “Our task is to discern which plan, in our view, best abides by the traditional core criteria with attention paid to the subordinate historical considerations and awareness of partisan fairness.
Warren County remains in the 15th District, represented by Congressman Glenn Thompson, but there are substantial changes.
The district as it sits today gives up population in the south and west — less of Venango and Indiana counties and none of Butler — and shifts east, adding the rest of Centre County, part of Lycoming County and all of Potter, Tioga, Clinton, Union and Snyder counties.


