There will be significant changes in state legislative districts in Butler County under preliminary maps drawn for House and Senate seats.

The statewide maps were released this week by a state commission tasked with redrawing political districts.

State and federal legislative districts must be redrawn every 10 years by law in accordance with population shifts in the U.S. Census. The new maps must be approved by January.

The maps, which can be viewed online at www.redistricting.state.pa.us, show the county will lose two current state senators but will pick up a new one. The county also will get two new state representatives.

Senate changes

Under the preliminary maps, Sen. Don White, R-41st, and Sen. Bob Robbins, R-50th, will lose all their territory in the county. Those senators will still retain their districts in other counties, and won’t lose their seats in the Legislature.

Almost all of White’s district, which includes boroughs like Bruin, Chicora, Karns City and Petrolia as well as 11 townships in the east and northeastern portion of the county, will be transferred to the 21st Senatorial District held by state Sen. Mary Jo White.

Mary Jo White also will pick up Connoquenessing Township from state Sen. Jane Orie, R-40th, but will lose Center, Franklin and Muddy Creek townships to county newcomer Sen. Elder Vogel in the 47th District.

Robbins too will lose his only county territory in Lancaster and Worth townships, areas that will be transferred to Vogel.

Vogel also will serve Forward, Jackson and Penn townships, which he is picking up from Orie’s 40th District.

He will continue to serve portions of Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties.

Orie, in turn, is only gaining Jefferson Township from Sen. Don White in the 41st District while losing territory to Vogel and Mary Jo White.

House changes

In the House of Representatives, the county is set to gain a portion of the 60th District held by Rep. Jeff Pyle, whose district covers parts of Armstrong and Indiana counties.

Pyle will gain Buffalo, Clearfield, Donegal and Winfield townships in the eastern part of the county from state Rep. Brian Ellis, R-11th.

Ellis, in turn, will pick up Jackson, Jefferson and Lancaster townships as well as Harmony, Saxonburg and Zelienople.

He is gaining Jefferson Township and Saxonburg from state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, while the rest of his gains will be from state Rep. Dick Stevenson in the 8th District.

Metcalfe also is giving up Connoquenessing to Ellis, who already covers Connoquenessing Township, while Stevenson is giving up Concord and Fairview townships to state Rep. Scott Hutchinson in the 64th District.

Another county newcomer, Republican Rep. Donna Oberlander in the 63rd District, will gain Bruin and Parker Township from Hutchinson.

The only county politician left unscathed by the new redistricting is Rep. Jaret Gibbons, D-10th, the county’s only Democrat. He is set to lose portions of his district in Beaver and Lawrence counties but will retain the only piece of Butler County he has, which is Slippery Rock borough and township.

The five-person Legislative Reapportionment Committee of two Republican legislators, two Democratic legislators and a retired state superior court judge drew the new maps.

Unhappy with change

Sen. Don White, whose district under the preliminary maps won’t include any territory in the county, said he’s not thrilled about the move, especially because he’s cultivated strong relationships with many of his constituents here over the past decade.

But he pointed out that the maps are preliminary and there is still “wiggle room” for them to be changed during the 30-day comment period.

White said, “We have a month of public input I guess, and the final maps won’t be decided until at least December.”

Regardless, he said, there has been frequent discussions in the past several years that Butler County is represented by too many state senators, a factor that might have played into his district being redrawn to exclude the county.

“I think there’s an emphasis to try to get fewer senators in Butler County, and I think (the preliminary maps) are part of that plan,” he said.

Vogel, whose district will now include a portion of western Butler County, said he’s no stranger to the area.

Vogel said he’s a dairy farmer who ships his product to Marburger Dairy in Evans City, and lives about five miles outside of Zelienople in Beaver County.

Congressional district maps are being looked at by another commission and will be announced later.