By Keegan Gibson, Managing Editor

Manan Trivedi will still target Rep. Jim Gerlach, the physician and Iraq War veteran’s campaign made clear in a statement today.

“Regardless of where the overreach in protecting political power originates, I am not deterred. As I continue to run for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 6th congressional district, I will fight to bring about the common sense values that my friends and neighbors deserve,” he wrote.

He, like many Democrats, criticized the redistricting process. The Pa. House passed the final version of the map today by a surprisingly wide vote of 136 to 61.

Trivedi is the victim of the gerrymandered map. Only 50 percent of the voters who lived in the 6th district in 2010, when Trivedi took 43 percent compared to Gerlach’s 57 percent. His home base in Reading has been split off into Rep. Joe Pitts’ Lancaster-based district, and the seat became considerably more Republican-leaning.

His home itself, in Union Township outside of Birdsboro, is now in Pat Meehan’s 7th district.

“I am especially looking forward to speaking with the new voters of the district, including in the town of Fleetwood where I grew up and went to school,” he said.

Trivedi is a physician at the Reading Hospital and a medical center in West Reading. He served in Iraq as a batalion surgeon with the U.S. Marine Corps.