For the first time in its history, California has lost a seat in the House of Representatives — and it’s not alone among blue states.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday that based on data from the 2020 census, seven states will end up losing seats in the House of Representatives — and therefore electoral votes for the presidency — while six states will end up gaining seats.
The only state to gain or lose more than one seat is Texas, which will gain two. The shift was less than anticipated by population estimates, but it’s still bad news for Democrats.
In addition to Texas gaining seats, Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon will add House members.
As for losing House members, California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will all be down one seat.
New York was only 89 people away from not losing a seat, many noted, leading to some grim reflections on the state’s early pandemic mismanagement.
Estimates were for a far larger shift, with Election Data Services predicting Texas would gain three seats and Florida would gain two, while New York and California would lose at least one and possibly more.
Instead, the shift was the smallest observed since the 1941 realignment. It continued a trend toward additional seats in the South and West of the country, however — and it’s one that doesn’t benefit Democrats, both at the House level and in the Electoral College.
As for the Electoral College: “States won by Donald Trump in 2020 gained five electoral votes, and lost two, for a net gain of three,” Dan McLaughlin noted at National Review.
