Pennsylvania seems set to lose another congressional seat at the end of the decade.
The University of North Carolina released a study today projecting the likely changes based on the most recent population trends.
There are 435 congressional seats among the fifty states and there are divided up after each U.S. Census. After the 2020 Census, Pennsylvania is projected to lose yet another seat.
This means in a few years the state legislature will have to eliminate a district and PA will have one less electoral vote in presidential elections (electoral votes are based on the number of congressional Representatives and Senators a state has).
Pennsylvania is used to this phenomenon by now, though, as the state hasn’t survived a Census without losing at least one seat since 1920. Overall, there has been a long-term trend of Northeastern and Midwestern states losing population to the South and West of the country.
For example UNC predicts that alongside PA; Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and West Virginia will also all lose a seat.
Arizona, California, Colorado and Oregon are considered possibilities to gain another seat while Florida, North Carolina and Virginia are considered certainties. UNC also projects that Texas will gain two seats.
Based on the 2012 electoral map, red states would gain five additional electoral votes under this scenario.
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7 Responses
With the Supreme Court victories, it is likely to be Republican seat eliminated. Please oh please let it be tea party member Scott Perry, one of the 40 Republicans in Congress who do nothing and know nothing.
1. Your map lists Holden for 17th and lists other such previous members as Altmire and Platts.
2. Perhaps this should be a sign for the anti-immigrant crowd to can it?
Ditch Congressman Boyle he’s a republican lover anyway.
Outrageous, Pennsylvania is still the fifth most populous state and we have to lose seats? The number of members in Congress has not changed in over 100 years,when the population of the US was a lot smaller. It is time to add more members to Congress to reflect the growth in population. Some individuals want to move the primary date up in PA during Presidential election years, will it really matter much in PA in the next forty-fifty years at the current rate of loss of electoral votes? Have fun circulating petitions on New Years Day. The weather can be lousy enough in February.
CD-12 should be collapsed if we lose one seat.
Get the heck out and VOTE today. The Supreme Court is more important than ever since the gerrymandered Republican controlled House will get to once again re-write the congressional districts !!
Everyone throw away their condoms and birth control pills and start populating !