- Lead
- 10,115
- Total
- 29,405
- vs nation
- D+35.9
Pennsylvania 185th State House District
President margin by year
Place winner margin
President results by year
Modeled candidate-vote estimate on current district boundaries
- Lead
- 12,288
- Total
- 30,202
- vs nation
- D+36.2
- Lead
- 12,949
- Total
- 27,496
- vs nation
- D+45.0
- Lead
- 13,701
- Total
- 26,673
- vs nation
- D+47.5
- Lead
- 12,837
- Total
- 28,105
- vs nation
- D+38.4
- Lead
- 10,212
- Total
- 26,874
- vs nation
- D+40.5
- Lead
- 8,796
- Total
- 22,188
- vs nation
- D+39.1
- Lead
- 8,472
- Total
- 20,832
- vs nation
- D+32.1
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+34.4MIT Election Lab
- Population
- 61,6282024 5-year
- Population density
- 3,349 / sq mi2024 5-year · TIGER/Line
- Land area
- 18.4 sq miTIGER/Line
- Median household income
- $56,9962024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 35.9%2024 5-year
- Black
- 48.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+51.4 in 2012MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+78.3 in 1924MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- State House District 100, LA · twin score 93.5
presidential history
Party record book
Pennsylvania 185th State House District · the strongest Democratic and Republican presidential performances recorded here, measured three ways.
1892–2024 (partial returns from 1876) · 38 presidential cycles · 38 with a vote-share denominator · 34 with a national benchmark
Highest vote share
Largest share of the presidential candidate vote cast here.
Democratic
Barack Obama2012
75.2%
20,051 votes · D+51.4 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Hillary Clinton, 2016 · 72.5%
Republican
Theodore Roosevelt1904
87.3%
12,017 votes · R+76.5 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Calvin Coolidge, 1924 · 86.4%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Lyndon B. Johnson1964
22,372votes
61.6% of the vote · D+23.5 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Joe Biden, 2020 · 21,153 votes
Republican
Thomas E. Dewey1948
23,313votes
61.2% of the vote · R+24.2 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Herbert Hoover, 1928 · 22,884 votes
Best relative to the U.S.
This Place’s margin against the national margin in the same election — positive when it leaned toward the party more than the country did.
Democratic
Barack Obama2012
+47.5pts D vs U.S.
Place D+51.4 · U.S. D+3.9 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Hillary Clinton, 2016 · +45.0 pts
Republican
William McKinley1900
+58.3pts R vs U.S.
Place R+65.8 · U.S. R+7.5 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Charles E. Hughes, 1916 · +57.8 pts
Current officeholders
State legislative officeholder from OpenStates nightly current-legislator data.
Senate and governor results are in the Office selector at the top of this page.
U.S. House
Each row is a county-allocated estimate of U.S. House votes for this district — county returns apportioned onto its boundary, not precinct-counted. “Vote lead” is the estimated local lead here, not necessarily the winner of the full contest.
With a 2024 presidential margin of D+34.4, this Philadelphia-area district ranks among the most reliably Democratic constituencies in the state, leaving general-election outcomes rarely in doubt.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 51.4 points in 2012 and a Republican high of 78.3 points in 1924. Between 2020 and 2024 the district moved 6.3 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 34.4 points.
A population of 61,628, a 36% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $56,996 describe the district. The district's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of State House District 100 and State House District 159.
The state-house districts whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
District research tools
Open the source-auditable district brief for electoral baseline, electorate, current-cycle coverage, geography, official dates, and methodology. Open campaign intelligence report → · Browse all comparisons →
Pennsylvania 185th State House District. Akashic. https://akashic.app/sld-lower/42185/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.