Pennsylvania's Congressional Delegation Will No Longer Be All Men

Pennsylvania is all but certain to finally have a woman in its 20-member congressional delegation next year.

Right now, Pennsylvania is the largest state without a woman in either the House or the Senate. The state’s never had a female senator, and the last woman to serve in its 18-member House contingent was Rep. Allyson Schwartz, a Democrat who retired in 2015.

But Tuesday’s primaries brought big wins for women politicians in Pennsylvania. In the newly drawn 5th Congressional District, Republican Pearl Kim will face Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon in November, meaning that barring an unforeseen circumstance, at least one woman will be going to Congress from the state in 2019.

The 5th district seat is being vacated by Rep. Pat Meehan (R), who announced he would be resigning after one of his female staffers accused him of sexually harassing her. Six women ran in the 10-candidate Democratic primary, more than in any other House district in the country. The seat leans Democratic.

Kim is a former state prosecutor and Scanlon is a public interest lawyer.

State Rep. Madeleine Dean (D) won in the 4th Congressional District, which is considered a safe Democratic seat.

Elsewhere in the Keystone state, Democrats Chrissy Houlahan (6th Congressional District) and Susan Wild (7th Congressional District) won their primaries. They will face off against male Republicans for seats that Democrats are targeting to flip.

Pennsylvania also lags behind in its female representation at the state government level, with women comprising just 19 percent of the members of its legislature.