Census numbers released Monday show Republican-majority states will pick up five congressional seats due to population shifts.
The results: Four blue states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, and Illinois — are losing one seat apiece in the 435-member legislative lower chamber, where representatives are granted to states based on their share of the 331 million-strong American population.
- The once-a-decade census marked the first time California has lost a congressional seat in the state’s 170-year history.
- New York is losing two seats.
On the other hand: Florida, Montana, and North Carolina each picked up a seat, while Texas picked up two.
- West Virginia and Ohio each lost a single seat, which means a net gain of representation in Congress and the Electoral College for states that supported Trump in the 2020 election.
- One seat went to Oregon, where Republicans will control the districting process after the state’s Democrats cut a deal in return for legislative support.
- Another seat went to Colorado.
The reaction: Conservatives said the latest census results showed Americans are voting with their feet.
Context: Despite some liberals’ claims, former President Donald Trump’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the census, which were widely decried as an effort to suppress blue-state representation, failed before the Supreme Court.
