In an unexpected move, the Republican chair of the Pennsylvania House Committee on redistricting is planning to debate a citizen map as the starting point for the commonwealth’s congressional redistricting negotiations. The “citizen map” chosen by State Rep. Seth Grove was drawn by Amanda Holt, a well-known redistricting advocate who has successfully challenged state legislative maps in the past. It appears that Republicans think negotiating with the Governor by starting with a citizen’s map that is better for Republicans than the map drawn by the Nate Persily for the PA Supreme Court in 2018 is a better bet than risking a second round of maps drawn by a special master. Of course, they will have legislative opportunities to change it, but if they don’t do too much to it, they may be right. That said, a key factor may be how it compares to the crowd-sourced map drawn by the state’s citizens.