Cumberland County State Representative and Congressional candidate Stephen Bloom joined FOX43 Morning News anchor Matt Maisel on the Capitol Beat.
Bloom is running for Congress in the newly-formed 13th District seat, which covers western Cumberland County, as well as Adams, Bedford, Blair, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, and Somerset Counties, and parts of Cambria and Westmoreland Counties. The seat region is being vacated by retiring Congressman Bill Shuster.
Bloom previously announced his plans to run for the former 11th District seat being vacated by U.S. Senate candidate Lou Barletta.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced on January 22 that the commonwealth's previous Congressional maps, drawn by Republicans in 2011, was unconstitutionally gerrymandered, in that it gave the GOP an unfair advantage. The court ruled state lawmakers had to submit a new map to Governor Tom Wolf for approval by early February. A map drawn by House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Joe Scarnati was submitted to the governor, and was vetoed, with Wolf describing it as a "partisan gerrymander."
The Pa. Supreme Court ruled if there was not an approved map in place by February 8, they would draw the lines with the help of a Stanford University expert. Pennsylvania Republican leaders argue the Supreme Court drawing the map goes against the state Constitution, which states Congressional maps must be drawn by the legislature and approved by the governor. Turzai and Scarnati have appealed the current maps to the United States Supreme Court, arguing the state court's decision was unconstitutional.