After six terms in the House, Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Jim Gerlach announced today that he will retire in 2014. On the heels of retirements by GOP Reps. Jon Runyan (NJ-03), Tom Latham (IA-03), and Frank Wolf (VA-10), Gerlach becomes the fourth member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership to head for the exits, and probably not the last.Without Gerlach in the race, we are changing our rating in PA-06 from Solid Republican to Lean Republican.At first glance, Democrats might be giddy at the prospect of an open 6th CD in the Philadelphia suburbs. Gerlach was a notoriously elusive DCCC target, and between 2002 and 2008, he won four straight elections with 52 percent of the vote or less. However, thanks to both redistricting and the nature of 2014, it's Republicans who begin with the upper hand to retain the seat.Prior to redistricting, the 6th CD included Democratic bastions like Lower Merion and Coatesvillle and gave President Obama 58 percent of the vote in 2008. But prior to 2012, GOP mapmakers stretched the Chester County-based seat into rural Berks and
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