Census gives Florida two more House seats

By: Gray Rohrer

Florida will send 27 representatives to the U.S. House in 2013, two more than it currently does, thanks to the 2010 Census numbers released Tuesday.

There were 308,745,538 residents in the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., as of April 1. Florida residents made up more than 18.8 million of those, adding more than 2.8 million residents from the 2000 Census.

Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who chairs the Florida House Redistricting Committee, praised the efforts of the Florida House to ensure all state residents were counted, that he said aided in the push for two more congressional seats.

“The House used MyFloridaCensus to target homes, streets and entire communities that were missed in the 2010 Census mail campaign. Through this initiative, Floridians reported 2,133 households and neighborhoods that were initially missed by the 2010 Census,” Weatherford said.

Republicans are hoping the new population numbers mean a boost for the GOP, as population growth in the red states in the West and South vastly outpaced that of bluer Northeastern and Rust Belt states. Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Washington, Texas, Georgia and South Carolina also picked up seats. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri lost seats. Louisiana was the only Southern state to lose a seat, thanks largely to dispersal of the population by Hurricane Katrina.

State houses will begin the redistricting process in April 2011 after more specific data is released by the U.S. Census Bureau, allowing them to target where new districts should be drawn or which should be eliminated. The districts drawn by the legislatures are subject to gubernatorial vetoes and judicial review before being sanctioned ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

In Florida, the 2012 legislative session will begin in January in order to accommodate the redistricting process. Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who chairs the Florida Senate Redistricting Committee, has announced plans for town hall meetings throughout the state in the summer of 2011 to hear from constituents about what boundaries should be used and where districts should be drawn.

Florida Democrats are counting on Amendments 5 and 6, known as the Fair Districts Amendments, which voters passed in the midterm elections, to rein in Republicans who hold veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the Legislature and the Governor’s Mansion.

“Floridians of all parties can look forward to districts that truly reflect their communities and representation that reflects the diversity of our great state, rather than the partisan gerrymandering that best describes the current districts,” said Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux.

But with a GOP stranglehold on Florida’s government, it’s unclear how constraining the amendments will be.

“Now the work begins in the Florida Legislature as we draw new congressional districts as well as seats in the Florida House and Senate. This will be a deliberative process and all Floridians will have a voice,” said Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island.

Florida legislators are awaiting the more detailed statistics to come out next year to see how the political landscape might shift along with the district boundaries, but the census data released Tuesday is already changing the playing field for national and presidential politics.

States that voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 — including Florida — picked up four U.S. House seats, but lost 10 — a net loss of six votes in the Electoral College. States that opted for his opponent, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gained a net six seats and electoral votes.

Besides Texas, which picked up four seats, Florida was the only state to gain more than one representative. New York and Ohio, which each lost two seats, were the only states to lose more than one.