Texas has 29.36M residents as of July 1, according to new population estimates released today (Tuesday) by the U.S. Census Bureau. These estimates “were created without incorporation or consideration of the 2020 Census results,” according to accompanying release notes. Texas has gained 4.2M residents since the 2010 Census.
Using these estimates, Texas would gain three congressional districts, giving the state 39 U.S. House seats. Other states gaining seats would be Arizona (+1), Colorado (+1), Florida (+2), Montana (+1), North Carolina (+1) and Oregon (+1), according to an apportionment calculator from the Univ. of Michigan. California (-1), Illinois (-1), Michigan (-1), Minnesota (-1), New York (-2), Ohio (-1), Pennsylvania (-1), Rhode Island (-1) and West Virginia (-1) are projected to lose seats.
These changes in the number of congressional districts assume that all residents within a state are included in the apportionment calculations. If undocumented immigrants were excluded, then Texas would be right on the cusp of gaining two congressional districts or just one.
HD68 special: Jacksboro attorney and Jacksboro ISD board member David Spiller announced he would seek the seat being vacated by Sen.-elect Drew Springer (R-Muenster) as a Republican. He served as city attorney and general counsel to the Jack County Hospital District for more than three decades. He joins Cooke County Judge Jason Brinkley (R), who announced his candidacy yesterday (Monday).
Stockman Commutation: President Trump commuted the prison sentence of former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Friendswood), who was convicted of more than 20 felony charges in 2018 and was serving a 10-year prison term. Stockman will remain on supervised release and must pay more than $1M in restitution. He was convicted for misusing $1.25M in charitable funds for personal expenses and placing an undercover staffer in the office of Rep. James White (R-Hillister).
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