Maryland Keeps Eight Seats in U.S. House, Census Says
Maryland will retain its current eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives under new 2010 census data released Tuesday, which also showed the state’s population grew by 9 percent since the last count in 2000.
More detailed state and county demographic information will not be forthcoming until February and March, and those statistics could trigger changes in state legislative district boundaries for the 2012 elections. In particular, Cecil County’s representation in the state Senate and House of Delegates is split over multiple districts but anticipated population gains could lead to consolidation of some districts.
Overall, the federal census counted 308,745,538 million people in the United States, an increase of 9.7 percent over the 2000 census. The biggest population gains—and potential political gold for Republicans—came in the South and the West, while the Northeast and Midwest—more reliable territory for Democrats—saw low growth or stagnant population figures.
The new population figures are used to re-apportion the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas, with a 20 percent population growth, was the big winner with a pickup of four seats in the House, expanding its delegation to 36 members.
Overall, ten states will lose one or more seats while eight states will gain seats.
The biggest losers were New York and Ohio, with each losing two seats in the House.
Also picking up seats were Florida (2), Arizona (1), Georgia (1), Nevada (1), South Carolina (1). Utah (1) and Washington (1). Losing one seat each were Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
[See the U.S. Census Bureau’s chart on state by state apportionment here:]
http://2010.census.gov/news/pdf/apport2010_table1.pdf
Maryland’s total resident population in the new census was reported as 5,773,552, an increase of 480,000 people or 9 percent over the 2000 census count. (For the purposes of congressional reapportionment. the state’s total was listed as 5,789,929, which includes military members from the state but serving elsewhere.)
Maryland will retain its current eight seats in the House of Representatives. Each House seat represents about 710,767 people, according to the census bureau, although every state is guaranteed at least one seat.
District lines for each of Maryland’s congressional districts will be re-drawn, and the state’s Democratic Governor and Democratic majority in Annapolis will no doubt try to re-draw the lines to benefit their own party members. But their options are limited, with concentrations of Republicans in Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore giving the state two GOP-leaning House districts.
Democrat Frank Kratovil (D-1st) lost his re-election bid in November to Republican Andy Harris in a district based on the Shore but also including parts of Baltimore, Harford, and Anne Arundel counties. The Eastern Shore will clearly stay in the district while there could be tinkering on the western shore end of the district to try to bring in more Democrats.
But it will be a delicate balance so as not to undermine the Democratic base of Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, (D-2nd) in Baltimore County. His district also includes parts of Anne Arundel and Harford counties, abutting portions of the 1st District in those counties.
The redistricting of Congressional and state legislative districts will be presented to the Maryland General Assembly by the Governor in the 2012 session in accordance with Article III, Section 5 of the Maryland Constitution.