Gov. Tom Wolf rejected a Republican-drawn map for new congressional districts in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, sending Senate and House leaders back to the drawing board in an effort to comply with the state Supreme Court’s order to create new boundaries.

The high court deemed the current map, in use for six years, unconstitutional in a case of gerrymandering and gave the Legislature until Feb. 19 to come up with a better option.

The governor’s office retained a mathematician with an expertise in redistricting, Moon Duchin of Tufts University, to review the GOP-drawn map. In a one-page summary released Tuesday by the governor’s office, Duchin called the GOP’s revised plan “extremely, and unnecessarily, partisan.”

It was a move that came as no surprise to Congressman Matt Cartwright, a Democrat who represents the southern half of Carbon County, all of Schuylkill County and a portion of Monroe County in District 17.

“I thought it was very doubtful the governor would approve that map,” Cartwright said Tuesday afternoon as Wolf released his announcement. “The map was proposed by Senate and House majority leaders. The full Legislature is supposed to pass a bill, which would then go to the governor for his signature or a veto. In this case, the governor didn’t actually have anything to veto.”

Cartwright said he has seen around 30 variations of a new map with one of them being the version Republicans sent to Wolf.

He called it likely that the state Supreme Court, with its Democratic majority, would ultimately decide what the final map would look like.

Current map

The court ruling Jan. 22 said a Republican-drawn map created in 2011 put partisan interests above other line-drawing criteria, giving GOP candidates an unfair edge.

In the three elections under that map, Republicans have maintained a 13-5 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation.

Carbon and Schuylkill county residents would have found themselves in a new congressional district had Wolf approved the proposal.

Most of Carbon County would have moved into District 15, a seat held by Charlie Dent, a Republican, which also encompasses Lehigh and Northampton counties. A sliver of western Carbon County and all of Schuylkill County would have fallen under District 11, a seat held by Lou Barletta, a Republican, who is not running for re-election.

Dent is also not running for re-election in 2018 after 14 years in office. Seven Democrats and six Republicans have announced their candidacy for the seat.

Cartwright’s district would have encompassed all of Monroe County under the proposed map.

“I can’t predict what my district will look like, but I can say it has been a privilege serving the people of Carbon and Schuylkill counties and if given the opportunity, I would proudly continue to represent those folks,” Cartwright said. “I think it is a foregone conclusion I will pick up some new territory. I don’t know where it will be, but that comes with additional work because you have to get around to new areas and understand their concerns. I’m never afraid of work and would welcome that opportunity.”

In a letter to Wolf on Tuesday, Sen. Joe Scarnati, Senate President Pro Tempore, and Rep. Mike Turzai, Speaker of the House, called on the governor to “quit being coy.”

“You have had an expert engaged for over a month,” they wrote to him. “You did a listening tour. It’s time that you produced a map for the public to review in a transparent fashion. Produce your map and we will put it up for a vote. We will assess how logical it is, how compact it is, and whether it unduly splits counties, municipalities and communities of interest.”

Avoiding voter confusion

Scarnati said the Republican proposal splits only 15 counties, 13 less than the last revision in 2011; and 17 municipalities, 49 less than in 2011.

“The map does not pair any incumbent member of Congress seeking re-election in 2018 with any other incumbent member of Congress,” Scarnati said in an announcement on his website. “In order to avoid confusion among the general public, this map retains 68.8 percent of the populations of existing districts in the same districts, which will help to reduce overall voter confusion. This retention is nearly the same for districts represented by both Republican (68.3 percent) and Democratic (69.8 percent) members of Congress.”

The duo also said they would not concede that the state Supreme Court has the power to invalidate a congressional map that has been in place for the past three election cycles.

Cartwright, however, applauded efforts to cut down on gerrymandering.

“It’s been around forever,” Cartwright said. “The man it is named after is a contemporary of George Washington. It has been weaponized by computers. It’s how you can take a 50-50 state and turn it into a 13-5 delegation with Republicans dominating.”

One of many incumbents running for re-election in 2018, Cartwright is putting a halt on initial campaign efforts until the map issue is settled.

“We would usually begin circulating petitions around this point of the year,” he said. “We have had to delay that because we don’t know what the district is going to look like.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.