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Allegheny County Democrats to Endorse Candidates Using 2001 Legislative Map

The Allegheny County Democratic Committee will meet this weekend to endorse candidates for U.S. Congress and the Pennsylvania General Assembly for the primary. But the ongoing dispute over state legislative maps has caused some confusion in the party and beyond.

"We set up our endorsements based upon the 2011 lines, then after the Supreme Court decision, we were instructed by the court to return to the 2001 lines, which we have done," said Nancy Patton Mills, chair of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee.

That Supreme Court decision threw out the 2011 maps, calling them unconstitutional, but lawmakers have been frustrated because the court offered no guidance on how the new maps should be structured.

"And that brought about an interesting situation. We had three districts that were eliminated with the 2011 maps, the State Senate 45th, the State House 45th, and State House 22nd, so after the Supreme Court decision all three of those came back into play," said Mills.

She said she expected a special election would take place to fill those and three other seats, but that's hasn't come about. Mills added the committee will make their endorsements on Sunday and hope that they hold until the primary.

About 2,800 committee members from all over the county are expected to participate in the endorsement process. It takes place Sunday from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the IBEW #5, 5 Hot Metal Street in Pittsburgh.