Rep. Fred Keller Will Not Seek Reelection After Pennsylvania Approves Democrat Redistricting Map

Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA) announced he will not seek reelection due to the redistricting map recently approved by “the liberal Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”

Last Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court approved a redistricting map that merged Keller’s seat with Rep. Glenn Thompson’s (R-PA) district.

As Breitbart News reported:

One Democrat justice, Debra Todd, sided with two Republican justices in dissent from the 4-3 decision to create a map dubbed the “Carter Plan,” which greatly pleased Democrats. The map creates eight red districts and six blue districts with three districts as a tossup.

Keller has represented Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district since 2019 after taking office in a special election. Instead of challenging Thompson in Pennsylvania’s new 15th congressional district, Keller initially announced last week that he would seek reelection in the 9th congressional district, running against Republican Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA).

However, Keller changed his mind and announced on Monday that he would not run for office against another member of Pennsylvania’s Republican delegation.

Keller said:

With control of Congress & the direction of our nation at stake, this election is bigger than any one person. Rather than pit Republicans against Republicans, which the congressional map chosen by the liberal PA Supreme Court does, I am committed to helping take back the House, holding Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat, and electing a conservative Governor. To that end, I am not going to run against another member of Pennsylvania’s Republican Congressional Delegation.

With control of Congress & the direction of our nation at stake, this election is bigger than any one person. Rather than pit Republicans against Republicans, which the congressional map chosen by the liberal PA Supreme Court does, I am committed to helping take back the House…

— Fred Keller (@VoteFredKeller) February 28, 2022

He called out the state’s “liberal” supreme court for allegedly overstepping its authority by choosing the pro-Democrat redistricting map:

The liberal Pennsylvania Supreme Court did the Commonwealth a great injustice when it once again overstepped its authority and selected a partisan map favoring Democrats. Make no mistake, this map—submitted by a national Democrat group—intends to diminish the voices of conservative voters in central & northeast Pennsylvania. As I said last week, I’m not going to let that happen. I’ve always promised to take the values of the people I represent to government.

Keller is the 14th Republican member of Congress who is not running for reelection.