Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district

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Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district

Population (2000)	646,249
Median income	$30,612
Ethnic composition	95.3% White, 3.3% Black, 0.3% Asian, 0.6% Hispanic, 0.1% Native American, 0.1% other
Cook PVI	D + 5

Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district is one of Pennsylvania's districts of the United States House of Representatives. It is currently represented by Democrat John Murtha.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 History
4 2006 elections
5 Representatives

[edit] Geography

The 12th Pennsylvania congressional district is located in southwestern Pennsylvania. It is a heavily Gerrymandered district. It consists of all of Greene County, and parts of Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties.

The district was drawn specifically for Murtha, including many heavily Democratic regions, while leaving more right-leaning Pittsburgh suburban regions to the 4th or 18th district, and rural conservative regions to the 3rd or 9th district.

The 12th includes all of Greene County, a highly rural region that still has a traditionally Democratic influence due to its labor leanings. In Washington county, the city of Washington, a large and Democratic edge suburb of Pittsburgh is a part of the 12th, as well as the eastern portion of the county, which includes the very Democratic former steel megacenter, the Monongahela Valley region. However, more rural western Washington County and the suburban northern portion of the county (with towns like McDonald and Canonsburg) belongs to the 18th. The western portion of Fayette County, including the city of Uniontown, a labor Democratic stronghold is part of this district, while the rural mountainous eastern portion is a part of the 9th.

The 12th District continues eastward, including southeastern and northeastern parts of Westmoreland County, including the labor Democratic city of Latrobe, while leaving the suburban western part of the county (with towns such as Murrysville) and the generally right-leaning city of Greensburg in the 18th. Portions of Somerset and Cambria Counties are also included in this district. This strip, the part of a large coal area with Democratic leanings, is Murtha's main base. It includes his home city of Johnstown. The 12th also contains a part of Indiana County, mainly the liberal college town of Indiana.

The 12th completes its wrap around the metro Pittsburgh region by ending in the northeastern corner of the city's suburbs, containing middle class regions such as Lower Burrell and the working class suburb of New Kensington. A portion of Armstrong County is also included in the district, including several industrial suburbs such as Freeport and Apollo.

[edit] Demographics

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[edit] History

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Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] 2006 elections

Jack Murtha is the incumbent for this district. His opponent was Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey.

[edit] Representatives

Representative	Party	Years	District home	Note
District created in 1795 from Pennsylvania's At-large congressional district
Albert Gallatin	Democratic-Republican	1795–1801	Fayette County	Appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury in 1801
William Hoge	Democratic-Republican	1801–1803	Washington	Moved to Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district
District eliminiated in 1803 District recreated in 1813
Aaron Lyle	Democratic-Republican	1813–1817
Thomas Patterson	Democratic-Republican	1817–1823		Did not seek renomination
John Brown	Democratic-Republican	1823–1825	Lewistown
John Mitchell	Jacksonian	1825–1829	Bellefonte	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection
John Scott	Jacksonian	1829–1831	Alexandria	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection
Robert Allison	Anti-Masonic	1831–1833	Huntingdon	Not a candidate for renomination
George Chambers	Anti-Masonic	1833–1837	Chambersburg
Daniel Sheffer	Democrat	1837–1839	York Springs	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection
James Cooper	Whig	1839–1843	Gettysburg
George Fuller	Democrat	1843–1844	Montrose	Died in office
George Fuller	Democrat	1844–1845	Montrose
David Wilmot	Democrat	1845–1851	Towanda	Not a candidate for renomination
Galusha A. Grow	Democrat	1851–1853	Glenwood	Moved from Pennsylvania's 14th congressional district
Hendrick B. Wright	Democrat	1853–1855	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection
Henry M. Fuller	Opposition	1855–1857	Wilkes-Barre	Not a candidate for renomination
John G. Montgomery	Democrat	1857	Danville	Died in office
Paul Leidy	Democrat	1857–1859
George W. Scranton	Republican	1859–1861		Died in office
Hendrick B. Wright	Democrat	1861–1863
Charles Denison	Democrat	1863–1867		Died in office
George W. Woodward	Democrat	1867–1871		Not a candidate for renomination
Lazarus D. Shoemaker	Republican	1871–1875		Not a candidate for renomination
Winthrop W. Ketchum	Republican	1875–1876		Resigned from office
William H. Stanton	Democrat	1876–1877		Not a candidate for reelection
Hendrick B. Wright	Democrat	1877–1879	Wilkes-Barre	Switched to Greenback Party
Hendrick B. Wright	Greenback	1879–1881	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection
Joseph A. Scranton	Republican	1881–1883	Scranton	Unsuccessful candidate for rerelection
Daniel W. Connolly	Democrat	1883–1885	Scranton	Unsuccessful candidate for rerelection
Joseph A. Scranton	Republican	1885–1887	Scranton	Unsuccessful candidate for rerelection
John Lynch	Democrat	1887–1889	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for rerelection
Edwin S. Osborne	Republican	1889–1891	Wilkes-Barre	Not a candidate for renomination
George W. Shonk	Republican	1891–1893	Wilkes-Barre	Declined to be a candidate for renomination
William H. Hines	Democrat	1893–1895	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for rerelection
John Leisenring	Republican	1895–1897	Upper Lehigh	Declined to be a candidate for reelection
Morgan B. Williams	Republican	1897–1899	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for rerelection
Stanley W. Davenport	Democrat	1899–1901	Plymouth	Unsuccessful candidate for renomination
Henry W. Palmer	Republican	1901–1903	Wilkes-Barre	Did not run for office in 1910
George R. Patterson	Republican	1903–1906	Ashland	Died in office
Charles N. Brumm	Republican	1906–1909	Minersville	Resigned when he was elected judge of the court of common pleas of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Alfred B. Garner	Republican	1909–1911	Ashland
Robert E. Lee	Democrat	1911–1915	Pottsville	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1914
Robert D. Heaton	Republican	1915–1919	Pottsville	Not a candidate for reelection in 1918
John Reber	Republican	1919–1923	Pottsville	Not a candidate for reelection in 1922
John J. Casey	Democrat	1923–1925	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1924
Edmund N. Carpenter	Republican	1925–1927	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1926
John J. Casey	Democrat	1927–1929	Wilkes-Barre	Died in office
C. Murray Turpin	Republican	1929–1937	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1936
J. Harold Flannery	Democrat	1937–1943	Pittston	Resigned in 1942 to become judge of the common pleas court of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Thomas B. Miller	Republican	1942–1945	Wilkes-Barre	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1944
Ivor D. Fenton	Republican	1945–1963	Mahonoy City	Unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1962
J. Irving Whalley	Republican	1963–1973	Pittsburgh	Not a candidate for reelection in 1972
John P. Saylor	Republican	1973	Johnstown	Died in office
John Murtha	Democrat	1973 – Incumbent	Johnstown	Incumbent

v • d • e Pennsylvania's congressional districts

At-large 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 The 20th-36th and At-large districts are obsolete See also: Pennsylvania's past & present Representatives, Senators, and Delegations All U.S. districts – Apportionment – Redistricting – Gerrymandering – Maps