These steps would put Republicans in a considerably stronger position.
President Trump, the U.S. Senate, and prominent red-state Republicans are working on parallel paths that could ultimately blow up the corrupted system of the U.S. Census and the out-of-balance redistricting that it has led to.
- The Trump administration is looking at conducting a mid-decade census after the 2020 Census was so subverted by Deep Staters in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
- Senators Bill Hagerty and Rick Scott have introduced a bill in the Senate that would prohibit illegal aliens from being counted in the U.S. Census for Congressional apportionment and the Electoral College.
- Lawmakers in Texas, Florida, and Ohio are working towards redistricting plans that could flip 7-10 House seats in Congress before the midterms.
Altogether, these steps would significantly impact American elections for years, putting Republicans in a considerably stronger position to maintain and expand their majorities in the House and Senate while also eliminating the dilution of legal, law-abiding American citizens’ votes and taxes.
The case for a mid-decade census is overwhelmingly strong, considering that even the Census Bureau admits that they undercounted six states, five of which are deep red, including the two largest — Texas and Florida. Meanwhile, they overcounted eight states, six of which are deep blue, including New York. Bluntly put, it was a bad census, and given the degree to which it helped Democrats and hurt Republicans, it’s impossible to conclude it was not on purpose—just more of the endless D.C. corruption.
This forms the moral and ethical case for redoing it, and doing so under guidelines more fair to actual Americans. There is a strong legal basis for doing this, as Title 13 of the U.S. Code allows for ongoing census surveys. Of course, like everything, it will be challenged in court in a friendly jurisdiction. But that is all Democrats have.
Concurrently, Senators Hagerty and Scott have introduced the Equal Representation Act to prohibit the inclusion of non-citizens in the Census permanently. This is hardly radical. A citizenship question was part of the long form decennial Census until 2000.
“It is unconscionable that illegal immigrants and non-citizens are counted toward congressional district apportionment and our electoral map for the presidency,” Hagerty said. Scott added: “Illegal aliens shouldn’t be allowed to break the law and be rewarded with taxpayer-funded benefits, and states that shelter them shouldn’t gain increased influence in Washington as a result.”
Senators Tim Sheehy, John Hoeven, Mike Lee, and James Lankford cosponsored the bill, and 13 other Senators have written their support.
This legislation alone would have significant political impacts because the census results are used to determine how many House seats each state receives, the number of votes each state sends to the Electoral College for president, and, downstream, the distribution of billions or trillions of dollars in federal money that is divvied up according to the census numbers.
Stopping illegal aliens who broke our laws to be here from diluting the political power of Americans, while also stealing federal dollars, creates another moral and ethical foundation for this legislation.
Concurrently, the two largest red states are moving forward with redistricting, and a third red state is mandated to do so by state law.
Texas is furthest along at the moment, spurred by a U.S. Department of Justice letter claiming that four majority-minority districts are unconstitutional because they were created as “race-based” coalition districts. So lawmakers in the Lone Star state are drafting a new congressional map that would revamp district lines, potentially flipping five Democratic seats in next year’s midterm elections. The new map targets Democratic U.S. House members in the Austin, Dallas, and Houston areas, plus South Texas.
Currently, Republicans hold 25 House seats to Democrats’ 13. Trump carried 27 of those districts in 2024, including those won by Democratic U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen.
Under the draft redistricting, 30 districts would have gone to Trump by more than 10 points last year, adding five Republican seats to Congress.
This could turn into a battle royale.
In their normal nonsensical attempt to “save democracy,” Democrats have fled the state to eliminate a quorum, which thwarts a vote as long as they are gone. Democrats will be hit with a $500 per day fine and face the threat of arrest. However, that did not stop them because deep-pocketed Democrat donors are willing to cover these expenses.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is considering pushing for a mid-decade redrawing of Florida’s congressional map that could add more Republican seats. Right now, Florida’s Congressional delegation has 20 Republicans and eight Democrats. DeSantis has a successful history on the subject. He vetoed a congressional map in 2022, a move that added four Florida Republicans to the House later that year.
DeSantis’ decision came just a week after the Florida Supreme Court upheld the state’s current congressional map, which his office redrew after his 2022 veto. The process is early, but given DeSantis’ and the Legislature’s history on this, its success is likely.
Ohio is required by law to redistrict this year, and the expectations are that the reddening state could add up to three more Republican Congressional seats to the House.
These three moves could be a complete undoing of what has been meant to subvert conservatives and the will of actual citizens and create a closer system to the kind of representation Americans want.
Rod Thomson is a former daily newspaper reporter and columnist, Salem radio host and ABC TV commentator, and current Founder of The Thomson Group, a Florida-based political consulting firm. He has eight children and seven grandchildren and a rapacious hunger to fight for America for them. Follow him on X at @Rod_Thomson. Email him at [email protected].
