NEW YORK (WCBS 880/AP) — New York will lose one seat in Congress as a result of national population shifts, according to census data released Monday.
The state's delegation will shrink from 27 to 26. It is one of seven states losing a member of Congress as a result of the 2020 census. The others are California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The state stands to lose out on more than political clout: The census also determines the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal funding each year.
New York City, for example, gains $7,000 a year for every household with more than two people, the city's 2020 census director, Julie Menin, said in October.
Deploying ads, text messages, phone calls and celebrities, New York state and local officials exhorted residents last year to participate in a count that unfolded amid the coronavirus pandemic and court fights over various aspects of the Trump administration's conduct of the census. That included an ultimately unsuccessful effort to exclude people living in the country illegally.
"This is literally one of the most important things that’s going to happen to New York City in a long time, whether we can maximize this census count or not," Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said last summer.
Ultimately, the state's census “self-response rate” — households answering by phone, internet or mail — was a bit over 64%, around the same as in 2010, Census Bureau data show. The national rate was 67%.
While the loss of at least one seat was expected in New York, the political world has been in some suspense over whether it might lose two in next year's congressional elections.
“Obviously, no one ever wants to lose any seat. But the good news is that we lost one instead of two,” said New York City’s former census director Julie Menin.
If New York State had counted just 89 more people, it would not have lost any seats in Congress, and Menin says there is plenty of blame to go around for that.
“The Trump administrations interference is unconscionable,” she said.
In addition to former President Donald Trump shutting things down two weeks early, Menin says Gov. Andrew Cuomo was also missing in action.
“They were supposed to be doing a whole grants program which they never did. They were supposed to be putting out information and partnering with us. We had absolutely no partnering from the state,” she explains.
She called the census a “Herculean task” and did celebrate the fact that the city met the 2010 response rate, even during the pandemic.
It's remains unclear now as to how voters' districts will change. That process hinges on more detailed census data that isn't expected until August, at the earliest.
Traditionally, state lawmakers and governors have redrawn voting districts for seats in the U.S. House and state legislatures. But some states, including New York, have shifted that job to special commissions or made other changes intended to reduce the potential for partisan gerrymandering.
In New York, voters approved a 2014 ballot proposition that calls for a 10-member commission to draw districts for the U.S. House and the state Legislature. The maps will be submitted to the Legislature for approval.
Six states will gain seats in the House of Representatives. Texas will gain two seats, while Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon will each gain one.
Overall, the U.S. population grew more than 7 percent since the 2010 census.
The state with the smallest population was Wyoming with 576,851, while the state the largest 2020 census resident population was California with 39,538,223.
Ron Jarmin, Acting Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, said as far as regions go, the south grew the fastest over the last decade with a 10.2% increase in population.
WCBS 880 contributed to this report.