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California losing congressional seat, first time ever

April 27, 2021

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

With the state’s population growth stagnating, California will lose a congressional seat for the first time.

On Monday, the United States Census Bureau released the results of the 2020 census apportionment, which will determine the new distribution of seats in the House of Representatives. Following reapportionment, California’s total number of House seats will decrease from 53 to 52.

With a population of 39,538,223, the largest in the nation, California will still have more House seats than any other state. But, California’s population growth fell to a record low rate last year and is on the verge of declining, while states like Texas are gaining residents.

The California Department of Finance has cited a lower birth rate, higher death rate, the coronavirus pandemic, less immigration and more residents leaving California as reasons for the decline in population growth. Critics of California’s governance argue high cost of living and taxes, among other problems, are driving residents to move to more affordable states.

California is among seven states that will each lose one House seat. The other six states are: Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Conversely, Texas will gain two House seats. Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon will each gain one seat.

For years, many Californians have been moving to states like Texas. In 2017, 63,000 Californians moved to Texas.

Since the 2010 census, Texas’s population rose by approximately 4 million residents, the largest increase among all states.


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I saw this article and expected a bunch of comments from California haters who despise the state, yet still live here…. and I was not disappointed!


You guys do know what the “Cal” in CalCoastNews stands for, right? If you hate the state so much, why are you still reading these articles and posting on this California news site? Schadenfreude?


-5

It is not California the state that many dislike, it is the social degradation due to the political leadership that California voters continue to elect. Sadly, when their bad choices affect them, they move elsewhere and repeat the same. California is a beautiful state, I will stay and fight the good fight.


10

California growth is slowing. That is what stagnation means. It has not shrunk. Which means no great exodus is at hand.


All the while Texas turns Blue..or at least purple. 2020 election spread 6%, 2016 9%, 2012 16%.


Kind of defies the theories of most commenters here. If all the dissatisfied CA Republicans are now populating Texas how could it be turning more blue?


-23

To answer your question about California, taxpayers fed up with the liberal mantra are leaving California in droves ( try renting a uhaul to go out of state)while illegal immigrants flood in which is why it’s “stagnant”. Texas is not turning blue but illegal immigration has effected its demographic also. Now you know Mr. Yan.


18

I quote actual statistics. You offer U-Haul rentals and gross assumptions about the legality of Texas voters.

As a former police officer you should value facts over antidotal evidence.


-7

“Between 2010 and 2019, more people moved from California to other states than those who moved to the Golden State, with a net loss of about 900,000 during the decade. But the previous decade saw an even greater loss to out-migration: About 1.5 million residents left California from 2000-2009.” US News and World Report.


4

Census bureau says otherwise. Ca grew by 4 million 2000-2010

3 million between 2010-2020.

We shrunk slightly last year…0.18%


-3

I know many citizens of California who intentionally did not submit their census, generally their reasons included their belief that elected officials have long since stopped representing them and instead represent those with money or strong lobbying groups or here illegally. I suspect it was their way to attempt to mute those official’s power to continue the state on what they feel is the wrong path and at least to a small extent it looks like it worked. Fewer of those officials now in Washington to push the wrong agendas.


12

Californication for the re-districting will be more distraction from the real problem.


11

As I understand it, Coastal California will suffer the loss of the seat. (Interior California had a much greater increase in population). I expect the Bay Area Congressional Districts will push south, and the Los Angeles area Districts will push north. Rep.Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) is the man in the middle.


Let me explain: Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district will encroach on Rep. Jackie Speier’s San Mateo County District. Her district in turn will encroach on Rep Anna Eshoo’s district, which already includes a portion of Santa Cruz County. To compensate, Eshoo’s District will push further into Santa Cruz County, which will force Monterey County’s Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s District to move south into San Luis Obispo, reclaiming an area that his father, Leon, represented from 1977-83. From the south, the LA districts will push into Ventura county, pushing the district of Rep Judy Chu (D- Oxnard) into Santa Barbara County, and maybe south SLO county.


Far fetched? Some of us remember when, after 30 years representing Ventura and Santa Barbara in the Legislature and Congress, Rep Bob Lagomarsino had to change his legal residence from Ojai to Pismo Beach to remain a voter in his Congressional District. It did not work well.


Of course, I might be wrong.


12

The Democrat’s move to the Progressive/Socialist agenda is the root cause for all of this. They have destroyed the opportunities for young families to live here, not to mention those that are retired and can’t survive in this over burden state by the complete incompetence of this one party choke hold that is slowly taking the life out this once great state. We are over taxed, over regulated and are in complete freefall due to the unfunded mandates for the greedy public unions. The Dems, have f….. us all in this state. May the reap what they are sowing themselves.


55

Hahahahahaha. And it’s just the beginning.


45

So, let me get this straight, you’re gleefully rooting for California to fail? Good to know.


-54

No dear Adam. Quite the opposite. California IS a failure. And that’s why people are leaving. I suspect your ideology is part of the reason why. But who am I to judge?


31

Nothing better than truthful zinger that hits the bullseye.


15

“California IS a failure”


Oh really. Why, because we didn’t vote for the insanity of Trump? Or because the Republican Party has become irrelevant in the state? Since the last statewide Republican politician left office, the state has only grown in its economic power, rising from the sixth largest economy to the fifth.


Notice that the poorest counties in Cali, including Fresno, home of Republican Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, are almost universally ruled by the Right, while Democrats control the richest areas—SF, Silicon Valley, LA.


California is home to some of the best colleges and universities in the nation—Stanford, Cal Tech and UCLA traditionally rank in the top 10. Although it is only one of 50 states, it contributes 15% of the nation’s total GDP, by far the largest among the states—more than 30% more than Texas. We provide the most agricultural products, the best in technology and are, overall, the fifth largest economy in the world, only eclipsed by the greater U.S., China, Germany and Japan.


So tell me more about how California is a “failure.”


And, by the way, California’s population has actually grown by more than 2 million people in the last 10 years. We have not grown as fast others, but that’s not surprising as the baby boomers have retired and sought out cheaper states.


Also notice that liberal leaning states Oregon and Colorado basically are the ones picking up California’s seats. As for Texas gaining two seats, that’s basically because the Hispanic population in that state is exploding, not because Californians are moving there.


-16

You make very good points about our state being an economic, scientific and agricultural leader. However, I think the state is failing in two ways:


Cost of living.

What good is it to live and work in a progressive leaning state when you can’t afford to buy a house? Maybe if we were not hit with income taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes on goods (in addition to sales tax), high DMV fees, etc. this would be less of a problem. You mentioned left leaning states Washington and Oregon. I am familiar with both and it’s worth noting that liberal Washington has no income tax and Oregon no sales tax. Given a choice between the two I would prefer the progressive income tax as the sales tax really hits poorer people by diminishing their buying power, BUT in California we get both! Yeah baby, we don’t just f*ck the rich, we f*ck everybody! Excise taxes, DMV fees, etc are lower in both of those states as well. The only thing that California has going for it in this area is in property taxes. If you can afford a house you can be assured you will not be driven out if it’s assessed value goes sky high. However, with a median home price of $550,000. You will have to be able to buy and then stay in your house for 10+ years before you realize the full benefits of Prop 13.

Infrastructure:

We have an antiquated power grid that has not been properly maintained and cannot handle the energy requirements of the state in summertime, resulting in rolling brownouts. Add to that the Public Safety Power Shutoffs that occur every time the wind picks up in fire prone areas and then ask yourself what do the power grids look like in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th largest economies. How do we maintain 5th largest economy when we can’t keep the lights on?

Grid maintenance started to be deferred when California ended the monopolies for power generation and PG&E and So. Cal Edison had to cut costs to compete. The California PUC didn’t ask too many questions about grid maintenance because they were too busy focusing on renewables while driving the nuclear industry out of the state.

Our highways are crumbling and the repair crews can’t work fast enough. (Have they finished the Highway 46 East project?) With our gas taxes and DMV fees our highway system should look like Germany’s, but I guess that’s the difference between 4th place and 5th place: Good roads and reliable electricity.

If taxes and infrastructure continue as they have been in this state it won’t be just disaffected conservatives leaving but right thinking liberals who are tired of busting their asses and never getting ahead. Add to that the corporations, many run by liberal leaning people, who have or will leave because of the impacts our cost of living and failing infrastructure have on them and more importantly on the workforce they seek and you may see us start slipping on that “World’s Largest” list.


5

Everyone is leaving blue states for greener pastures…you progs can have CA….all to yourselves….


38

Greener pastures? Like Republican run states such as Mississippi—the poorest state in the union. Or Texas—where you might possibly freeze to death in your own home. The problem with leaving California is that you have to live somewhere else, and if you’ve lived in California for any amount of time, you’ve become quite spoiled. So, good luck to you.


-60

California will be left to the very poor and the very rich….that reminds me of Venezuela…I have many friends that have packed up and left and everyone of them are happy they did…some went to Texas Arkansas and even Idaho…they claim they can see a shot at retirement now that they could not see while residing in CA….so good luck to you….


25

Your correct. The only one’s who will remain will be the leftest elitist and those in poverty who will have to serve them. Thanks again to the self-serving gluttonous arrogant Demon Democrats.


20

Mississippi is ranked in the Top 10 for affordability compared to California being ranked last. Even employment equality in Mississippi is ranked higher than California. I also saw somewhere that said California’s short term fiscal health ranked near the bottom, again worse than Mississippi. When California is ranked below poor states like Mississippi in any category, shows how sick the once Golden state is.


18

This is far from surprising, and will probably continue the decline going forward, never to recover. This is just one of many clues that America is in an unrecoverable, serious decline. Government by both the Democrats AND the Republicans has become a colossal failure, with the Republicans showing incredible increasing distancing from supporting America. The true Republican party has not existed for over 10 years, with the past 4 years having a horribly destructive impact on all of America. As the United States moves quickly in the direction of becoming another “Third World” country, as Americans’ financial status continues its decline, Americans (along with other folks around the world in the same situation) will move to where the few jobs are and away from taxes, away from supporting American society. But, those jobs are significantly below what was once considered to be “Head of Household” jobs, meaning the financial foundation of most Americans is disintegrating. Combine that with a system of government that is clearly not “for the people and by the people”, selfishly focusing only on themselves and support corporate America, negatively impacting all Americans. Because of this, how can we expect Americans to pay attention to our global national and world problems — “Don’t bother me, it is someone else’s responsibility, not mine”. American governmental, corporate and personal responsibility has disappeared. This includes America’s dismal understanding and actions to respond to the world’s rapidly deteriorating climate and oceans. This is all very bad news for the future of the United States. The future of all Americans is not going to be positive or pleasant. The future for our children and their children are in serious jeopardy due to our adult negligence and arrogance over the past 50 years. Welcome to the new era of America’s “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”. History is repeating itself.


-32

Oh sure, no one wants to live in a moderate climate next to the ocean with vast areas of mountains, desert and chaparral. And they definitely don’t want to live in the fifth largest economy in the world.


While I get your pessimism, I don’t buy it. California is, and will continue to be for many years, the very best place to live in the world—the Italian riviera is still pretty damn good, too, but I don’t speak Italian very well.


I believe that Americans are beginning to know that climate change is real and we are moving toward solutions. Biden’s infrastructure package will be passed as well as much of his new legislation (including at some point a $15 minimum wage) which will put America on a different path.


I fear you’re still suffering from TPTSD—Trump Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Get over it. Hell in a hand basket is not an option. America was in deep trouble in 1933 but we came out of it a better nation.


-60

History will tell you what got the US out of trouble in 1933 was a little thing that started around 12-7-1941 and lasted for several years. How many lives did that little thing cost us?


16

California is a beautiful state geographically with great weather but the idiot liberal mentality has damaged California incredibly. The perfect example is all the transient tent cities set up by liberal policies and the increase in crime. Good job liberals


12

It’s because we have in California integrated, systemic, one-party rule. No checks and balances.


4

Yeah, those Trump years, best economic numbers since the end of WWII. Say what you want about the obnoxious orange man, but on the economy he delivered, just an irrefutable fact.


1

That’s laughable. Under Trump, the economy grew by about 2.1% per year, similar to the last 7 years under Obama.


Meanwhile, under Clinton (1993-2000) it grew by an average of 4%. Under Carter, it grew by 4.6%. Under Johnson it grew by nearly 5%.


So take this fantasy that somehow Trump had the best economy ever and stuff it. It simply is not true. For three years he rode the coat tails of Obama’s expansion, but, because of his total mishandling of the pandemic, he, like Reagan, Bush and Bush left the country worse economically than when he started.


-1