Americans Want to Live in GOP Districts - Here's the Census Data to Prove It
Americans are voting with their feet — or, to be more specific, their moving vans. They want to live in conservative areas.
According to Politico, the 2020 census revealed that nine of the 10 fastest-growing districts are represented by Republicans in the House of Representatives.
“Population explosions in Texas and Florida over the past decade delivered both of those states additional congressional seats in the upcoming reapportionment, but new data from the Census Bureau released this month shows exactly where the growth was,” Politico reported on Sunday.
“The eight congressional districts that grew the most over the past decade were all in either Texas or Florida, mostly centered around growing cities such as Dallas, Houston and Orlando. Districts in Utah and South Carolina rounded out the top 10.”
The district that saw the most growth, it must be noted, is represented by a Democrat. Florida’s 9th Congressional District, which includes the cities of Kissimmee and St. Cloud, saw 40 percent growth since 2010.
Democratic Rep. Darren Soto has represented the district since 2017 — although, according to an April report from Florida Politics, Soto’s seat could be one of the Democratic Party’s “vulnerable spots” in 2022.
The other nine districts — mostly in Texas — are all represented by Republicans.
In the Lone Star State, the districts of GOP Reps. Kevin Brady, Michael Burgess, John Carter, Michael McCaul, Troy Nehls and Van Taylor were among the fastest-growing in the nation, with growth rates between 30.3 and 36.7 percent since 2010.
In Florida, Rep. Vern Buchanan’s 16th District saw nearly 30 percent growth over the past decade.
Rounding out the list were GOP Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah’s 4th District (29.8 percent growth) and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina’s 1st District (28.9 percent).
All of the districts are in states with Republican governors, and all four states represented have two Republican senators each.
Some of these Republicans, Politico said, “found themselves in more competitive races driven by those population changes as the last decade went on.”
However, along with the census data come two things: reapportionment and the redrawing of districts.
Both Florida and Texas gained seats due to the census results, with Texas adding two. Both states have Republican legislatures that will oversee how the districts are redrawn.
How things go forward isn’t quite the point, though. It’s where people decided to move over the past decade.
If liberalism works, we should be seeing the rapid growth of Democratic districts. Free stuff! More services! Progressive values! What’s not to love?
The cost, for one thing. When people flee states like California and New York — both of which predictably lost seats due to the latest census — they’re not leaving for states where they have to pay the same amount in taxes or where the cost of living is similarly high. They can’t afford liberalism.
And, given the fact that their new home districts continue to vote Republican, they’re not bringing liberal politics with them.
Turning Texas purple has long been a pipe dream for Democrats. Former President Donald Trump scored a decisive victory there in 2020 even after CNN declared it a battleground state.
In a Senate race liberals thought they could win and that NBC News called a “big near-miss” for the Democrats, Republican Sen. John Cornyn did even better than Trump, beating his challenger by nearly 10 points.
As for Florida, the so-called swing state was called early on election night. In the wake of another presidential loss in Florida, Democratic strategist Matthew C. Isbell told The New York Times, “It’s really hard to argue Florida is a true swing state.”
And both states, it’s worth noting, have remained relatively open during the coronavirus pandemic.
Numbers don’t lie — and these Census Bureau numbers are great news for the GOP ahead of the midterms next year.
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