Democrats Could Lose Multiple House Seats Under New Legislation

A Republican Congressman has said he has legislation in the offing that could reduce the number of Democratic seats in the House.

Ohio Representative Warren Davidson said that "Congressional districts should be drawn based on the population of U.S. citizens only."

Congressman Davidson wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "The Census should specifically count U.S. citizens for apportionment of representation. Only U.S. citizens are represented by the U.S. Congress."

Currently, the number of seats in each state is determined by a census every 10 years, known as 'reapportionment.' Davidson has argued that because the census uses the total population to determine reapportionment, extra seats are gained by parties based on maps factoring in people who cannot vote.

Redistricting is a controversial topic with both major parties accusing each other of gerrymandering or manipulating the boundaries of electoral constituencies to their advantage. Critics of plans like the one proposed by Davidson have said such legislation would prevent lawmakers from representing everyone in their district, regardless of background or nationality.

Elections to decide members of Congress are federal elections and only U.S. citizens can vote in them.

Davidson has tried to change this with the Fair Representation Amendment reintroduced in February 2021. Despite a thin Republican majority in the House, the Ohioan needs a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate along with the approval of at least three-fourths of the states because it would amend the U.S. Constitution. Newsweek has approached Davidson's office for comment.

Davidson said that "California has 5-7 extra members of Congress because the Census uses the total population."

California currently has 52 representatives who are members of the House: 40 of them are Democrats and 11 Republicans. One other seat, following the departure from office of former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the end of 2023, is vacant.

According to the 2020 census, 'foreign-born persons' make up 26.5 percent of the population in the Golden State.

The U.S. Census Bureau said the "foreign-born population is composed of anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth." This includes naturalized U.S. Citizens who can vote in federal elections.

Davidson was questioned by one X user if he was using California as an example because of its favorability towards Democratic candidates, currently indicated by the number of its House representatives, Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom, and majority in the state legislature.

"All of America," Davidson replied, "following an honest Census of U.S. citizens."

Asked why he chose not to highlight his own state of Ohio, Davidson responded: "It's a tweet, not a white paper."

Six states have one representative each due to their low populations, while 11 others use either an independent commission or a hybrid process of both a commission and the legislature to decide.