Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf Tom WolfPennsylvania court extends mail-in ballot deadline Barr: Coronavirus lockdowns 'greatest intrusion on civil liberties' since slavery The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - Trump, Biden couldn't be more different on climate change MORE (D) on Tuesday rejected a new district map drawn by GOP lawmakers, bringing the state closer to handing its redistricting process over to a court.

The GOP map was drawn after the state Supreme Court struck down the state’s current congressional map in a gerrymandering case.

Wolf’s press office confirmed that the governor told Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court that he won’t approve the new congressional lines on the grounds that it's a “partisan gerrymander that does not comply with the court’s order" or state constitution.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Partisan gerrymandering weakens citizen power, promotes gridlock and stifles meaningful reform,” Wolf said in a statement. “As non-partisan analysts have already said, their map maintains a similar partisan advantage by employing many of the same unconstitutional tactics present in their 2011 map.”

State GOP lawmakers submitted a new map to Wolf last Friday, just ahead of the court-ordered deadline for new lines. A chief of staff to the state Senate president said lawmakers drew more compact districts and sought to avoid dividing counties, cities and towns.

Following the release of the proposed map, Pennsylvania Democrats immediately pushed back on the new lines and urged the governor to reject it.

The governor had until Thursday to decided whether to approve the map. That means the state Supreme Court will likely handle redrawing new congressional lines and it would have until Feb. 19 to draw the new map.

The new map needs to be in place prior to the May 15 primary. Pennsylvania’s secretary of State already pushed back the timeframe for candidates to circulate nominating petitions, but there are no plans to delay the primary.

State House Speaker Mike Turzai and state Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, both Republicans, blasted Wolf's decision on Tuesday while calling on the governor to release his own map.

"Your letter sets forth a nonsensical approach to governance. Quit being coy. You have had an expert engaged for over a month. You did a listening tour. It's time that you produced a map for the public to review in a transparent fashion," they wrote. "Produce your map and we will put it up for a vote."

While the new lines are still up in the air, Democrats are expected to benefit from the redistricting and political observers predict them picking up three to five seats.

That would be a significant advantage for the party as they compete for the House majority. Democrats need to flip 24 seats in order to take back the House.

Pennsylvania is expected to see the most changes in the southeastern part of the state, particularly around the Philadelphia suburbs. But some strategists in the state believe that while Democrats will benefit in some targeted districts, new lines could still raise the prospects for some vulnerable Republicans.

Updated at 4:10 p.m.