They were not successful. The bill is scheduled for final approval Tuesday. Since the Senate narrowly passed it last week, it will be on a fast track to Gov. Corbett's desk for his signature.
"This is by far the worst case of gerrymandering I've seen in my 25 years here," said Rep. Robert Freeman (D., Northampton).
"There is way too much self-interest here," added Rep. Pamela A. DeLissio (D., Phila.). "I refuse to participate in that kind of manipulation."
A new congressional map is required every decade to reflect shifts in population. Because Pennsylvania grew more slowly than the rest of the nation, it will lose a U.S. House seat, dropping to 18 in the 2012 election.
The party that controls the legislative chambers gets to draw the map. Republicans have majorities in both the House and Senate.
The proposed new district for Republican U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, in particular, has been singled out as an example of unabashed gerrymandering. Its jigsaw-puzzle shape has raised the ire of Democrats, who allege it was drawn to excise Democratic areas in favor of more solidly Republican ones.
Meehan has been considered one of the more vulnerable House members in 2012, representing a district carried by Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008.
"This is being done simply to make the Pat Meehan seat a safe Republican seat. Let's call it what it is," said Rep. Greg Vitali (D., Delaware).
Meehan's proposed new district would include parts of five counties: Delaware, Chester, Lancaster, Montgomery, and Berks. Some heavily Democratic towns in Delaware County with sizable African American populations - Upper Darby among them - would be snipped out and placed in Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Brady's Philadelphia-centered First District.
