Some residents in four of the five Times News counties will have new members of Congress in 2019. The only ones who won't are all those in Schuylkill County and some in parts of Carbon, Monroe and Northampton counties.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Lehigh, stunned both Republicans and Democrats alike recently when he announced that he will not seek an eighth two-year term. One of the most vocal moderate Republicans and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, Dent said he is tired of the gridlock in Washington, the mean-spirited attitudes exhibited by members of both parties and a pledge to himself and his family to limit the number of terms he would serve to six or seven.The announcement is expected to touch off a flurry of activity and jockeying among candidates who otherwise would not have normally sought the seat if the incumbent were seeking re-election.A few days before Dent's decision, state Rep. Justin Simmons, R-Lehigh, announced he would challenge Dent for the Republican nomination. When hearing about Dent's announcement, Simmons gloated that his candidacy scared Dent out of the race. We and he know that this is a preposterous claim.Dent said as much, indicating that he had pretty much made up his mind during the summer after talking to family members and his close advisers. He told National Public Radio over the weekend that he is confident he would have handily beaten Simmons. State Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, agreed, saying that Simmons would have had little chance of wresting the nomination from Dent.Dent told NPR that House Majority Leader Paul Ryan, along with other high-level Republicans, urged Dent to run for re-election, but Dent said he was steadfast in his decision.After Dent's shocker, state Rep. Ryan MacKenzie, R-Lehigh, announced his candidacy. Lehigh County Commissioner Marty Nothstein is also said to be considering a run for the GOP nomination.So far, just one Democrat - former Lehigh County Commissioner, mayor of Coplay and Whitehall-Coplay School Board member Bill Leiner - has announced intentions to run. Look for many more well-known candidates to enter the battle now that the race is wide open. The 15th District, which includes all of Lehigh and parts of Northampton counties and meanders south to near Harrisburg, has a slight Democratic voter registration edge, but President Trump won the district in 2016 by nearly eight percentage points.Dent joins U.S. Reps. Lou Barletta and Tom Marino as members of the 18-person Pennsylvania congressional delegation who so far have indicated that they will not seek re-election next year.Barletta, R-Luzerne announced recently that he will be a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018 in an effort to unseat incumbent Democrat Bob Casey Jr.Barletta's 11th district, which favored Trump by 24 points, includes parts of Carbon County. Redistricting after the 2010 census significantly changed the 11th district. It lost sections of the Wilkes-Barre area.To make up for this population loss, the 11th was stretched into more rural and Republican-leaning territory to the north and south and now goes from the Poconos all the way to the Harrisburg suburbs.Before the latest reapportionment, all of Carbon County was within the 11th District. Now, just the boroughs of Beaver Meadows, East Side and Weatherly and the townships of Banks, Kidder, Lausanne, Lehigh, Packer and Penn Forest are within the 11th. The rest of the county is represented by Democrat Matt Cartwright, who is expected to seek re-election.Cartwright's 17th District also includes all of Schuylkill County and parts of Monroe and Northampton counties.Marino has been nominated by Trump to lead the U.S. Office of Drug Control Policy, which needs Senate approval, and he is expected to get it. Marino's 10th District includes the Monroe County municipalities of East Stroudsburg, Mount Pocono and Stroudsburg boroughs and the townships of Barrett, Jackson, Paradise, Pocono, Price townships and part of Stroud Township.With a six-year U.S. Senate seat up for grabs and three of our four local members of the U.S. House of Representatives giving up their seats, 2018 should be an interesting year to attract a high voter turnout for a midterm election.By Bruce Frassinelli |

tneditor@tnonline.com