Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Contact 90.5 WESA with a story idea or news tip: news@wesa.fm

Scanlon Is First Woman In Pennsylvania Delegation Since 2014

Jacquelyn Martin
/
AP
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., left, ceremonially swears-in Rep.-elect Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., second from right, as her husband Mark Stewart holds the Bible, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, in the speaker's ceremonial office on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon has become the first woman in Pennsylvania's congressional delegation since 2014.

Scanlon was sworn in Tuesday to an open congressional seat in southeastern Pennsylvania left vacant after Republican Pat Meehan resigned in April.

Scanlon last week won a special election to fill the remaining seven weeks of Meehan's term in the Delaware County-based seat. The four-term Meehan resigned while under an ethics investigation for using taxpayer money to settle a former aide's sexual harassment complaint.

Scanlon also won a full two-year term in the Nov. 6 general election to a Delaware County-based seat, redrawn after a state court ruling that Republicans unconstitutionally gerrymandered Pennsylvania's congressional districts in 2011.

The district it's replacing had such contorted boundaries that it was nicknamed "Goofy kicking Donald Duck."

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.