Census Indicates Future GOP Gains in Congress

With the 2010 census completed it appears that Republican-leaning states will gain at least a half dozen U.S. House seats. This is because after a census each of the House’s 435 districts must be reapportioned to make them roughly equal in population. In addition, each House district represents an electoral vote in the presidential electoral college so the the 2012 election will tilt more Republican.

The Census Bureau announced on December 21 that the U.S. population on April 1st was 308,745,538, an increase from 281.4 million a decade ago. Our nation’s population grew more slowly than in past decades but still shifted to the South and West. Michigan was the only state to lose population while Nevada, with a 35 percent increase, was the fastest-growing state. The U.S. growth rate in the decade was 9.7 percent, the lowest percentage since the Great Depression. In contrast, the U.S., population grew by 13.2 percent from 1990 to 2000.

The census numbers should be a boon for Republicans. Texas lead the way among GOP-leaning states to gain four new House seats. Florida will gain two seats and gaining one each are Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. States losing seats are Ohio and New York at two each and Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania losing one seat each.