Immigrants get the job done for Massachusetts congressional representation
The latest census population figures are out, and Massachusetts is keeping pace with national population growth. The state’s population grew to nearly 7 million people at a rate of 0.6 percent between July 2017 and July 2018. That’s the same rate as the nation as a whole.
It’s also the fastest rate of growth in the northeast, putting states like New York and Rhode Island more at risk of losing representation in Congress after the 2020 Census. (The Wall Street Journal has a good explainer of which states would gain or lose seats based on the latest numbers.)
There are important political implications to how, and where, Massachusetts is growing. As Secretary of State Bill Galvin noted in announcing the figures, Massachusetts’ growth should be enough to maintain its 9 Congressional seats and 11 electoral votes “as long as we have a fair and accurate count”.
That caveat is a less-than-veiled reference to the Trump administration’s attempts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. (Pew has a good primer on the controversy.) A Brookings Institute analysis estimated that 24 million residents could be intimidated away from taking the Census by the citizenship question. The Census Bureau’s own research found that 1 in 4 worried that their answers to 2020 Census questions could be used against them. This, of course, was the whole point, according to private communications among Trump officials and allies.
The status of the citizenship question matters to Massachusetts in particular because much of our population growth is coming from international in-migration. The inflows of new residents from other countries more than offsets our loss of residents to other states. But those foreign-born populations are exactly the residents who could be spooked by a citizenship question on the Census. If they are shy to answer, Massachusetts could end up with an artificially low tally in the official 2020 census. That’s why Maura Healey is among the attorneys general suing the Trump administration over the citizenship question, saying its addition would make the Census less accurate and jeopardize the Commonwealth’s federal funding and political representation.
Even assuming Massachusetts holds onto its 9 seats in the U.S. House, where the state is (and isn’t) growing could make for some uncomfortable redistricting for two of the delegation’s most powerful members. The Census hasn’t released county-level figures yet, but it’s safe to assume that the pattern from last year largely holds: The bulk of the state’s population growth is happening in Greater Boston. (The UMass Donahue Institute has a nifty dashboard illustrating the point, using last year’s county-level numbers.)
Incoming Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal and Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern represent the state’s four westernmost counties, which have a markedly lower population growth than Greater Boston, even over a smaller base population. (McGovern also represents Worcester county, which is growing faster but not as fast as Suffolk county.)
A reshuffling of districts to achieve population parity might mean some carving up of Neal and McGovern’s territory to give each representative some more of the faster-growing parts of the Commonwealth. And if a citizenship question on the Census does depress Massachusetts’ official count, one logical place to consolidate would be out west.
As we await a resolution of the citizenship question, Reps Neal, McGovern, along with the rest of the delegation, have immigrants to thank for helping the state keeping pace with the rest of the nation.
**** EVENT ALERT: LIVE POD JANUARY 9****
Join us in celebrating the start of 2019 with a live recording of The Horse Race!
When: Wednesday, January 9th, 6pm-8pm
Where: WeWork, One Beacon St, 15th Floor
The Crosstabs
Speaking of Rep. McGovern, he was the sole guest for this week’s Horse Race. It’s a must-listen for his take on Donald Trump, and his explanation of why the Rules Committee he’ll be leading is so important.
McGovern is the first of two congressional podcasts we have lined up to close out 2018. Next week we’ll post the second, a conversation with incoming Third District Representative Lori Trahan.
Last week on The Horse Race, we had on Anthony Amore, the 2018 Republican candidate for secretary of state (and head of security for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum). Plus Katie Lannan previews 2019 on Beacon Hill, and Jenn Smith explains the Green New Deal.
Writing for WBUR this week, Steve Koczela argues that the Massachusetts political system is set up to protect incumbents, and that protection is directly opposed to achieving racial and gender equality on Beacon Hill.
FiveThirtyEight’s weighted polling average has Trump’s job approval at 42 percent approve, 53 percent disapprove.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll finds a majority of Americans do not want to shut down the government over funding for [a] wall and would blame Trump and the Republicans if it happens.
HuffPo finds only 10 percent of Americans think the U.S. has gotten better at preventing gun violence since the Sandy Hook massacre.
Big changes at polling stalwart Gallup, which is withdrawing from much of its U.S. political polling and increasing its international research.
The Pollsters podcast goes deep on the issue of sexism facing women in polling and political consultants.
YouGov finds that Americans think Santa Claus is a Democrat, but three-quarters of Republicans think Trump is on his nice list.
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? It turns out it hinges more on race and ideology than religious affiliation.
Whichever seasonal greeting you prefer, we at MPG wish you and yours a good one, and a happy new year. See you in 2019, hopefully at the Live Pod January 9.