Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district | |
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Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
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Current Representative | Charlie Dent (R–Allentown) |
Distribution |
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Population (2000) | 646,300 |
Median income | 45,330 |
Ethnicity |
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Cook PVI | R+4 |
Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District is located in eastern Pennsylvania. The district stretches from the suburbs east of Harrisburg to communities east of Allentown and the New Jersey border. Counties located in the district include all of Lehigh County and parts of Berks County, Dauphin County, Lebanon County, and Northampton County.
From 2003 to 2013 it comprised all of Northampton County, most of Lehigh County, and small parts of Berks and Montgomery Counties. The district included the Lehigh Valley, Indian Valley and Upper Perkiomen Valley regions.
Despite a slight Democratic tilt due to the presence of fairly large cities such as Allentown and Bethlehem, the Democrats in the Lehigh Valley are nowhere near as liberal as their counterparts in the Philadelphia area. In particular, they tend to be somewhat conservative on social issues. As a result, it has been in Republican hands for all but six years since 1979. During 1999–2005, Pat Toomey represented the district. Since 2005, fellow Republican Charles Dent has represented the district. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of R +2.