California will lose one seat in Congress for the first time in state history, while Texas and Florida are among the states that will see their representation increase, according to population data released by the U. The new apportionment figures β which use the decennial head count to allocate representation in the U.
The details arrived months later than in a typical census as a result of the COVID pandemic scrambling the standard timeline. The more granular data necessary to draw district boundaries are not expected until the fall, resulting in an uncommonly compressed and chaotic redistricting process. The unknown contours of the eventual districts are complicating nearly all aspects of congressional campaigns, including candidate recruitment, fundraising and early appeals to voters.
The rate of growth was the second-slowest in U. The bureau will deliver the census block data β the smallest geographic area detailed by the count, which can vary from the size of a city block to hundreds of square miles in rural areas β by Sept. A Republican-led drive to remove Gov.
Gavin Newsom from office has collected enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. The census is the constitutionally designated method to mete out seats in the House of Representatives, which since has been permanently capped at districts. Every state is guaranteed at least one representative, and the size of each delegation is based on population.
Apportionment also affects the balance of power in picking presidents, because the number of votes each state gets in the electoral college is based on its number of senators and representatives. The move was blocked by the Supreme Court. Texas and Florida were each expected to gain one more seat than they ultimately did. Arizona was anticipated to pick up an additional district, but its representation remained unchanged, which some blamed on lack of outreach to minority communities.
