Rep. Don Sherwood (R) Elected 1998, 3d term
Born:	Mar. 5, 1941, Nicholson
Home:	Tunkhannock
Education:	Dartmouth Col., B.A. 1963
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Carol)
Elected  Office:	Tunkhannock Area Schl. Bd., 1975-98, Pres., 1992-98.
Military Career:	Army, 1964-66.
Professional Career:	Businessman; Auto dealer, 1967-present.
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The northeast corner of Pennsylvania is a land of crevassed valleys and rugged mountains, criss-crossed by giant viaducts built for the railroads linking the East Coast with the Great Lakes and mines to the big cities that heated their houses with the region's anthracite coal. Except for a row of anthracite coal cities from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre, this part of Pennsylvania still has a wild look to it: the superstructure of railroads and Interstate 80 pass through an area that seems otherwise little touched by late 20th century prosperity. This is a land of numerous long-established small towns, with solidly built courthouses and banks and elderly citizens--a part of the Northeast that seems worlds away from the region's huge central cities and growing suburbs. The biggest towns here are Lewisburg, home of Bucknell University and a major federal penitentiary, and Williamsport, home of the Little League World Series. Only at the eastern edge is there significant growth; rural Pike County on the Delaware River grew 65% in the 1990s, largely because of an influx of New Yorkers and Latinos.

The 10th Congressional District includes all of northeast Pennsylvania except for Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and fast-growing Monroe County, which are in the 11th District. Redistricting changed the configuration of districts in this part of the state. Since 1888, there had been separate districts centered on Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Since the New Deal years both cities have been far more Democratic than the rest of northeast Pennsylvania, which has been Republican since 1850; a Democratic congressman this area in the 1840s, David Wilmot, introduced the Wilmot Provisio barring slavery from the New Mexico and California Territories acquired in the Mexican War. This became one of the great causes of the Republican party in the 1850s; Wilmot was one of the founders of the Republican party and was elected as a Republican to the Senate. Most people in this part of Pennsylvania have been Republicans ever since. In 2002 Republican redistricters put Scranton and Wilkes-Barre together in the 11th District, leaving the 10th a solidly Republican constituency.

The congressman from the 10th District is Don Sherwood, a Republican elected in 1998. He has deep roots in Tunkhannock in Wyoming County, 40 winding miles northwest of Scranton. After graduating from Dartmouth and serving in the Army, Sherwood became a Chevrolet dealer in 1967--at age 26, the youngest Chevy dealer in the East. He served 24 years on the Tunkhannock school board. He raises and grooms Belgian horses, which he shows throughout the state. When Joseph McDade, a Scranton Republican who had showered projects on Scranton from his seat on the Appropriations Committee, announced that he would not run again in 1998, Sherwood ran for the seat, assembling a grass-roots organization of 1,800 volunteers and announcing an agenda that combined small business goals to cut taxes and "eliminate the IRS as we know it" with calls for a minimum wage increase and HMO regulation. With a personable style and an open wallet--he ultimately spent $795,000 of his own money on the campaign--he won 43% in the eight-candidate Republican primary, well ahead of the 23% for Scranton Mayor James Connors. In the general election he faced Pat Casey, son of former Governor Robert Casey, a Scranton native and strong opponent of abortion. Casey argued that by entering Congress at a young age he would put money in the district for years to come, and said that Sherwood's ideas on Social Security and education are "walking in lockstep with Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich." Sherwood argued that he was "a proven job creator" and that his support of a higher minimum wage showed he was alert to the district's needs. Sherwood got a big boost in the closing days when Speaker Newt Gingrich came in and pledged to assign him to fill McDade's seat on the Appropriations; when Gingrich resigned after the election, the offer was not honored and the seat was given to John Peterson. This was one of the closest races in the nation: Sherwood won by just 515 votes, 49%-48%.

In the House, Sherwood has compiled a mostly conservative voting record. He supported a bipartisan plan for a $1 increase in the minimum wage. But he opposed organized labor with his votes for PNTR with China and trade promotion authority. He sponsored an amendment of the Death on the High Seas Act to allow damage claims for airline crashes at sea; the victims of the TWA 800 crash off Long Island in 1996 included 21 students and chaperones from the local Montoursville High School, most of whose families had been unable to file claims because of maritime law.

Democrats again nominated Casey to oppose Sherwood in 2000, and both again spent heavily. In vivid contrast to 1992, when then-Governor Casey was barred from speaking to the Democratic convention because of his anti-abortion views, Pat Casey paid tribute to his father, who died in May 2000, from the convention podium in Los Angeles. The AFL-CIO ran an ad that said Sherwood sided with the pharmaceutical industry on drug coverage for seniors. Sherwood said that he was working to strengthen Medicare and that Casey would say anything to get elected. Sherwood won by a larger margin this time, 53%-47%, losing Lackawanna County 62%-38% but piling up sizable majorities elsewhere. After the election, Republican leaders gave him the Appropriations seat that he was denied two years earlier.

Redistricting transformed what had been one of the most closely divided districts in the nation in 1998 to an utterly safe Republican seat. The Republican redistricters, by putting Scranton and nearby towns in the 11th District, removed practically every precinct that voted against Sherwood in 1998 or 2000. No Democrat filed to run against Sherwood; he was reelected with 93% of the vote.

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DC Office
1223 LHOB 20515, 202-225-3731; Fax: 202-225-9594; Web site: www.house.gov/sherwood

State Offices
Clarks Summit, 570-585-8190; Williamsport, 570-327-8161.

Committees

• Appropriations (31st of 36 R): Homeland Security; Interior; Labor, HHS & Education.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	5	20	0	13	8	100	56	100	96	89	100
2001	0	--	0	14	--	--	62	100	88	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	22%	--	74%		21%	--	73%
Social	32%	--	67%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	33%	--	60%		0%	--	85%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Don Sherwood (R)	152,017	93%	$1,001,321
	Kurt Shotko (Green)	11,613	7%
2002 primary	Don Sherwood (R)	unopposed
2000 general	Don Sherwood (R)	124,830	53%	$2,107,286
	Pat Casey (D)	112,580	47%	$1,619,801
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (49%)

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	140,387	56%
	Gore (D)	100,754	40%
	Other	7,887	3%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Tenth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 9
• District Size: 6,689 square miles
• Population in 2000: 646,537; 44.6% urban; 55.4% rural
• Median Household Income: $35,984; 10.3% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 31.1% blue collar; 52.6% white collar; 16.4% gray collar; 15.3% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 95.5% White, 1.9% Black, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.6% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.4% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 18.5% German, 11.0% Irish, 7.4% Italian
• Click here for statewide demographic data.