Democrats will find themselves on defense in dozens of districts the party captured in 2018, including 31 districts won in 2016.
A shifting political battleground is common at the end of a decade, years after the decennial census reapportions districts and states redraw their political boundaries.
New residents moving between states and across district lines distort old political balances, struck every 10 years to ensure districts have even population numbers.
Population shifts out of the Rust Belt and into the Sun Belt have created districts groaning with new residents.
Nearly two dozen congressional districts have seen their populations increase by more than 10 percent since the last census, according to the Census Bureau's figures, and 52 districts have added at least 50,000 new residents.
In states where lawmakers carefully drew district boundaries to maximize their chances of winning, those population shifts become even more destabilizing.
Where the average congressional district in the United States has grown by 23,200 people since the last Census, the average Texas district has grown by 74,000 people - and the average competitive Texas district, mostly centered around Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, has grown by an incredible 96,500 residents.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/453425-population-shifts-set-up-huge-house-battleground
A shifting political battleground is common at the end of a decade, years after the decennial census reapportions districts and states redraw their political boundaries.
New residents moving between states and across district lines distort old political balances, struck every 10 years to ensure districts have even population numbers.
Population shifts out of the Rust Belt and into the Sun Belt have created districts groaning with new residents.
Nearly two dozen congressional districts have seen their populations increase by more than 10 percent since the last census, according to the Census Bureau's figures, and 52 districts have added at least 50,000 new residents.
In states where lawmakers carefully drew district boundaries to maximize their chances of winning, those population shifts become even more destabilizing.
Where the average congressional district in the United States has grown by 23,200 people since the last Census, the average Texas district has grown by 74,000 people - and the average competitive Texas district, mostly centered around Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, has grown by an incredible 96,500 residents.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/453425-population-shifts-set-up-huge-house-battleground
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