Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district

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Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district is located in the northeastern region of the state. It encompasses all of Wayne, Pike, and Lackawanna Counties; along with portions of Luzerne and Monroe counties.

The district had been anchored in Bucks County from the 1940s until 2018, even as most other districts in Pennsylvania changed drastically during that time frame due to population shifts and Pennsylvania's loss of seats in the House.^[1]

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania redrew the district in February 2018 after ruling the previous map unconstitutional due to gerrymandering. The 8th district was reassigned to the northeastern part of the state for the 2018 elections and representation thereafter. It is geographically the successor of the former 17th district, including the ancestrally Democratic cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in the Wyoming Valley. Portions of the new 8th district also came from the old 10th district, including the more conservative counties of Pike and Wayne. Meanwhile, the Bucks County district was renumbered as the 1st district.^[2]

The district has a Cook PVI of R+4;^[3] however, the Democratic incumbent of the old 17th district, Matt Cartwright, won in 2018.^[4] It was one of five districts that would have voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election had they existed in their current configuration while being won or held by a Democrat in 2022. At the time it was also the most Republican-leaning district held by a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus based on the Cook Partisan Voting Index.

The district is a mix of suburban and rural communities. It is predominantly white and middle-class. The bulk of its population is located in the ancestrally Democratic cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. However, the Democrats in this district are populist-leaning, different from their counterparts in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The old 17th swung from a 55–43 win for Barack Obama to a 54–43 win for Donald Trump, the first time much of this area had voted for a Republican since 1988.

Recent election results from statewide races

Year	Office	Results^[5]^[6]
2008	President	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Obama 57% - 42%
	Attorney General	align="right" style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Corbett 52% - 48%
	Auditor General	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Wagner 65% - 35%
2010	Senate	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Sestak 52% - 48%
2010	Governor	align="right" style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Corbett 52% - 48%
2012	President	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Obama 56% - 44%
2012	Senate	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Casey Jr. 59% - 41%
2014	Governor	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Wolf 60% - 40%
2016	President	align="right" style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Trump 53% - 44%
	Senate	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|McGinty 47.4% - 46.7%
	Attorney General	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Shapiro 53% - 47%
	Treasurer	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Torsella 53% - 41%
	Auditor General	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|DePasquale 52% - 42%
2018	Senate	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Casey Jr. 52% - 46%
2018	Governor	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Wolf 57% - 42%
2020	President	align="right" style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Trump 51% - 48%
	Attorney General	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Shapiro 52% - 45%
	Treasurer	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Torsella 48.29% - 48.26%
	Auditor General	align="right" style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading"\|DeFoor 49% - 47%
2022	Senate	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Fetterman 49% - 48%
2022	Governor	align="right" style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Shapiro 54% - 44%
2024	President	align="right" style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading"\|Trump 54% - 45%
2024	Senate	align="right" style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading"\|McCormick 51% - 47%

Composition

Lackawanna County (40)

All 40 municipalities

Luzerne County (55)

Ashley, Avoca, Bear Creek Township, Bear Creek Village, Buck Township, Butler Township (part; also 9th; includes Beech Mountain Lakes), Courtdale, Dallas Township, Dennison Township, Dupont, Duryea, Edwardsville, Exeter Borough, Exeter Township, Fairview Township, Freeland, Forty Fort, Foster Township, Franklin Township, Hanover Township, Harveys Lake, Hazle Township, Hazleton, Jackson Township, Jeddo, Jenkins Township, Kingston Borough, Kingston Township, Laflin, Larksville, Laurel Run, Luzerne, Nanticoke, Newport Township (part; also 9th; includes Sheatown and Wanamie), Nuangola, Penn Lake Park, Pittston, Pittston Township, Plains Township, Plymouth Borough, Plymouth Township, Pringle, Rice Township, Sugar Notch, Swoyersville, Warrior Run, West Pittston, West Hazleton, West Wyoming, White Haven, Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes-Barre Township, Wright Township, Wyoming, Yatesville

Monroe County (18)

Barrett Township, Chestnuthill Township, Coolbaugh Township, Delaware Water Gap, East Stroudsburg, Hamilton Township, Jackson Township, Middle Smithfield Township, Mount Pocono, Paradise Township, Pocono Township, Price Township, Ross Township (part; also 7th; includes part of Saylorsburg), Smithfield Township, Stroud Township, Stroudsburg, Tobyhanna Township, Tunkhannock Township

Pike County (13)

All 13 municipalities

Wayne County (28)

All 28 municipalities

List of members representing the district

The district was created in 1791.

1791–1793: one seat

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
District first established March 4, 1791
File:William Findley.jpg William Findley (Youngstown)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Elected in 1791. Redistricted to the Template:Ushr.

District eliminated in 1793 and replaced by the Template:Ushr.

1795–1813: one seat

District restored in 1795.

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
File:Thomas Hartley 1748-1800.png Thomas Hartley (York)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Federalist	March 4, 1795 – December 21, 1800	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Redistricted from the Template:Ushr and re-elected in 1794. Re-elected in 1796. Re-elected in 1798. Retired and then died.
Vacant		December 21, 1800 – January 15, 1801	Template:USCongressOrdinal
John Stewart (York)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	January 15, 1801 – March 3, 1803	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Elected in 1800. Elected January 15, 1801, to finish Hartley's term and seated February 3, 1801. Redistricted to the Template:Ushr.
File:William Findley.jpg William Findley (Youngstown)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1813	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Elected in 1802. Re-elected in 1804. Re-elected in 1806. Re-elected in 1808. Re-elected in 1810. Redistricted to the Template:Ushr.
William Piper (Bloodyrun)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1817	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Redistricted from the Template:Ushr and re-elected in 1812. Re-elected in 1814. Retired.
Alexander Ogle (Somerset)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1819	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Elected in 1816. Retired.
Robert Philson (Somerset)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1821	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Elected in 1818. Lost re-election as a Federalist.
File:JohnTod.jpg John Tod (Bedford)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Elected in 1820. Redistricted to the Template:Ushr.

1823–1833: two seats

Years	Cong ress	Seat A			Seat B
Years	Cong ress	Representative	Party	Electoral history	Representative	Party	Electoral history
March 4, 1823 – April 20, 1824	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Thomas Jones Rogers (Easton)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	Redistricted from the Template:Ushr and re-elected in 1822. Resigned.	File:SIng.jpg Samuel D. Ingham (New Hope)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	Redistricted from the Template:Ushr and re-elected in 1822. Re-elected in 1824. Re-elected in 1826. Re-elected in 1828 but resigned to become U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
April 20, 1824 – December 9, 1824		Vacant
December 9, 1824 – March 3, 1825		File:George Wolf.jpg George Wolf (Easton)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	Democratic-Republican	Elected October 12, 1824, to finish Rogers's term and seated December 9, 1824. Also elected the same day in 1824 to the next term. Re-elected in 1826. Re-elected in 1828 but resigned to become Governor of Pennsylvania.
March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1829	Template:USCongressOrdinal		style="background-color:Template:Party color" \| Jacksonian			style="background-color:Template:Party color" \| Jacksonian
March 4, 1829 – October 13, 1829	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Vacant			Vacant
October 13, 1829 – March 3, 1833	Template:USCongressOrdinal	Samuel A. Smith (Rockhill)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	style="background-color:Template:Party color" \| Jacksonian	Elected October 13, 1829, to finish Wolf's term and seated December 7, 1829. Re-elected in 1830. Retired.	Peter Ihrie Jr. (Easton)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".	style="background-color:Template:Party color" \| Jacksonian	Elected October 13, 1829, to finish Ingham's term and seated December 7, 1829. Re-elected in 1830. Redistricted to the Template:Ushr and lost re-election.