Rep. Todd Platts (R) Elected 2000, 3d term
Born:	Mar. 5, 1962, York
Home:	York
Education:	Shippensburg U., B.S. 1984, Pepperdine U., J.D. 1991
Religion:	Episcopalian
Marital Status:	married (Leslie)
Elected  Office:	PA House of Reps., 1992-2000.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty, 1991-93.
DC Office	1032 LHOB20515, 202-225-5836; Fax: 202-226-1000; Web site: www.house.gov/platts
State Offices	Carlisle, 717-249-0190; Gettysburg, 717-338-1919; York, 717-600-1919.
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The Mason-Dixon Line, the historic boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, runs through some of the country's most pleasant rolling farmlands, west of the Susquehanna River up through the first of the Appalachian chains. This area was home to the westernmost capital of the United States during the Revolutionary War: the small city of York, capital from September 1777 to June 1778. York is where the Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation, received word from Benjamin Franklin in Paris that the French would help the colonies with money and ships and issued the first proclamation calling for a national day of thanksgiving. A little more than four score years later, Robert E. Lee's Confederate troops crossed over this invisible line and were repulsed in the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. Not much today suggests that this region was either a frontier or the object of bloody struggle: The green farmland seems peaceful, prosperous and mostly undisturbed by the current era's commercial trappings and stylistic excesses; this is where Dwight D. Eisenhower, a man of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, chose to quietly spend his retirement years.

For more than 50 miles, the Mason-Dixon Line forms the southern boundary of the 19th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, which includes all of Adams and York Counties and part of Cumberland County to the north--relatively fast-growing areas in slow-growing Pennsylvania. The 19th takes in the fruit belt of Adams County, the Harrisburg suburbs across the Susquehanna and part of the old town of Carlisle, with Dickinson College, the Carlisle Barracks, and the U.S. Army War College, where George W. Bush in May 2004 described his plans for Iraq and where free-wheeling discussions of military operations sometimes create consternation elsewhere. Hanover, in York County, is one of the world's snack headquarters--home to Snyder's of Hanover, which makes one of every four pretzels sold in the U.S. (people in this area take their pretzels seriously), as well as potato-chip giant Utz Quality Foods. The district's biggest city is York, the site of Harley-Davidson's largest manufacturing plant and the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame at the York Barbell Company. York is a place where many residents commute less than an hour to work in Baltimore and where the Orioles, not the more distant Phillies, are the baseball team of choice; a few hardy souls who like the inexpensive housing commute from here to jobs in Washington. The city also hosts a rapidly growing Hispanic population, mainly Puerto Rican, but with increasing numbers of Mexicans; in Gettysburg, many Hispanics work the abundant orchards. Politically, the 19th is heavily Republican. George W. Bush won 61% of the vote here in 2000 and 64% in 2004.

The congressman from the 19th District is Todd Platts, a Republican first elected in 2000. Platts grew up in York, graduated from Shippensburg University and Pepperdine University School of Law. In 1992, at age 30, after practicing law in Lancaster, he was elected to the state House of Representatives, where he served four terms.

In 2000, Platts was the first to announce his candidacy after longtime Congressman Bill Goodling, chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, announced his retirement. Platts's chief primary opponents were state Representative Al Masland, attorney and Goodling-endorsed Dick Stewart and Charlie Gerow, head of the state Citizens Against Government Waste. The campaign motto for Platts, who refused contributions from political action committees and was outspent by his chief Republican rivals, was "Putting People First" (his conservative supporters apparently weren't bothered by the fact that the phrase had been the title of a book by Bill Clinton). Platts won with 33% to 29% for Masland and 19% for Stewart, rolling up huge margins in his home base of York County. In the general, Platts won 73%-26%, after spending about one-third the amount of the average House freshman that year.

In the House, Platts has a comparatively moderate voting record. He has taken a special interest in oversight of federal agencies: He pushed legislation to require review of all government programs at least once every five years to evaluate their performance, and he chaired hearings where he demanded that the Homeland Security Department improve its accounting practices. He sponsored legislation to overturn a federal court ruling that he said created loopholes in the Whistleblower Protection Act. On the highway bill, Platts pushed for a new transit center and road improvements in Gettysburg. He has gained seniority on the Education and the Workforce, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, and now chairs the Government Management, Finance and Accountability Subcommittee on the Government Reform Committee. Inside Congress, he risked the opprobrium of many colleagues by proposing with Democrat Marty Meehan a smoking ban on the House side of the Capitol.

Other than a perfunctory primary challenge in 2002, Platts has twice been reelected without major party opposition.

Committees

• Education & the Workforce (10th of 27 R): Education Reform; Employer-Employee Relations.
• Government Reform (10th of 23 R): Government Management, Finance & Accountability (Chmn.); National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (22d of 41 R): Highways, Transit & Pipelines; Railroads.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	20	5	13	9	60	52	95	84	73	76	--
2003	20	--	25	25	--	56	90	80	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	45%	--	55%		46%	--	53%
Social	44%	--	55%		34%	--	65%
Foreign	36%	--	63%		17%	--	78%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers N 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Todd Platts (R)	224,274	91%	$171,605
	Charles Steel (Green)	8,890	4%
	Other	11,930	5%
2004 primary	Todd Platts (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Todd Platts (R)	143,097	91%	$224,480
	Ben Price (Green)	7,900	5%
	Michael Paoletta (Lib)	6,008	4%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (73%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 198,192 (64%) Kerry (D) 110,274 (36%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 153,892 (61%) Gore (D) 90,125 (36%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Nineteenth 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 +12
• District Size: 1,666 square miles
• Population in 2000: 646,389; 71.4% urban; 28.6% rural
• Median Household Income: $45,345; 6.8% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 29.3% blue collar; 57.1% white collar; 13.6% gray collar; 14.3% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 92.2% White, 2.9% Black, 1.1% Asian, 0.1% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.9% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 2.7% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 28.1% German, 9.0% Irish, 6.7% USA
• Click here for statewide demographic data.