by Greg Blankenship
The American Enterprise Institute's John Fortier has a brief analysis of new Census Bureau figures on population growth.
"The average congressional district in the next decade will have almost 715,000 people, up from 647,000 after the 2000 census. Compare this to 37,000 per district after the 1790 census and 210,000 per district after 1910 census, when the number of House members was fixed at 435. Projections are for Texas and Florida to gain three seats, Arizona two and California, Georgia, Nevada and Utah one. Balancing those gains will be losses of two seats each from New York and Ohio and one from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Louisiana.
Overall, the red or Republican states (won by Bush in 2004) will net a six-seat gain and blue states will lose six. But there is some question whether high-growth, high-immigration states such as Nevada, Arizona and Florida might turn more purple as they grow. If you are afraid of growth, move to Europe, or to Ohio.
But remember that most of your friends are moving to Phoenix, Dallas and Miami, and they’ll have more say in future congresses."
One wonders which incumbent Congressmen are going to get the short end of the reapportionment stick.
Link: AEI - Where the People Are.
