Texas expected to win more congressional seats with Census
SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson talks about how revised Census figures will affect Texas politically.
BY ANNA M. TINSLEY
By 2013, Texans likely will have three or four more congressional members than it has today.
The exact number of new seats the Lone Star State will pick up due to population growth will be announced Tuesday.
That's when U.S. Census officials will reveal the number of people living in the United States, as well as the number in each individual state -- and the number of congressional seats each state will pick up or lose.
"These numbers are published every 10 years, and they drive a lot of federal government decisions in relationship to the states," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "Texas likely will get four seats, going from 32 congressmen to 36 -- the largest expected increase of any state."
With this new data, Texas lawmakers will redraw district boundary lines during the upcoming 2011 legislative session and determine where the new congressional seats will be based on population growth. The new districts will be in place for the 2012 election.
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