November’s election will be the first time Centre County chooses a state Senator since districts were redrawn in 2022.
The General Assembly got rid of retiring state Senator Jake Corman’s district, which included all of Centre County and two nearby counties, and split Centre County and the State College area between two state Senate districts.
“The line goes straight through the middle of Centre County and makes a little dodge around State College," said Chris Fowler, an associate professor of geography at Penn State. He studies how congressional districts impact voters.
Fowler said the western part of the county, including Park Forest and Toftrees, is in District 35, which is represented by Republican Sen. Wayne Langerholc.
The eastern part of Centre County, including the State College borough and Penn State, is in District 25, which is represented by Republican Sen. Cris Dush.
Fowler said it’s normal for district boundaries to change as populations and ideologies shift over time. Plus, he says there can’t be elections immediately after redistricting, since state Senators’ terms are staggered to every four years.
“So there's nothing nefarious there. It's a necessary flaw in the system," Fowler said. "I think what is a little troubling is that our region always seems to be the one that has these sorts of things happen to it.”
Fowler said maps often split apart the heavily Democratic State College metropolitan area.
But even when Centre County is left intact, as it was recently under Corman, state Senate races in the area are not competitive. That’s because the county doesn’t have a large enough population to be its own district. And while Centre County has slightly more Democrats than Republicans, much of the surrounding area is Republican.
“I think that competitiveness is something a lot of Pennsylvania voters value, and the state Senate map is particularly not competitive," Fowler said.
Because Republicans have a large majority in Districts 25 and 35, Fowler said Democrats don’t want to waste resources on candidates there.
“They want to invest funds where they think it's really close," Fowler said.
District 25 incumbent, Republican Sen. Cris Dush, does have a challenger, Democrat William McGill. He made it onto the ballot through a write-in campaign in the primary.
Republican Sen. Wayne Langerholc is running unopposed in District 35.
But Fowler said creating competitive races isn’t so cut and dried. He said keeping the State College area’s liberal vote intact to increase competition has its own tradeoffs.
“If you made Centre County half of a district, it might, you know, disenfranchise people in the hinterlands who already feel like Penn State is the 800-pound gorilla and, you know, dominates everything in the region and that's unfair," Fowler said.
As for voters in the Penn State region, Fowler says it’s difficult to know if they feel well represented by Senators who are new to Centre County and who weren’t voted in. Sen. Corman had represented all or part of Centre County since 1999.
“I think there are good things to say for Corman, you know, having had a really powerful position in the state Senate," Fowler said. "But at the same time, you know, you wonder about, constituents’ policy preferences changing and the incumbency advantage [of] keeping the same person in office year after year after year.”
That incumbency advantage is another reason Fowler said state Senate races are often uncontested, leading to lower voter turnout and interest. He said the presidential race is likely a stronger driver for voters to go to the polls.
The general election is less than two months away on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
