The census reapportionment numbers are to politics what the NFL Draft is to football fans. There is endless fodder for speculation and second-guessing in both, and what is obvious after the fact is not necessarily apparent when decisions are made.
As a result of the 2020 Census, Texas will gain two congressional seats while Florida, Colorado, Oregon, North Carolina and Montana each gain one. New York, California, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and West Virginia each lost one. If the new changes had been in place in November, President Biden would have collected three fewer electoral votes but would have still easily cleared the 270 needed to win.
While the top-line numbers suggest Republicans gained and Democrats lost, the reality is far more complex. For starters, a slew of Democratic insiders, pollsters and lawyers breathed a sigh of relief because they expected far more losses in blue states. New York and California “only” lost one each, and Rhode Island did not lose any. Likewise, Texas could have gained three and Florida two.
