U.S. census hands more House seats to Texas, Florida

New population data released by the U.S. census reapportioned congressional seats in a shift that could boost Republican chances of recapturing the U.S. House of Representatives from Democrats in next year's midterm elections.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Monday that Texas, Florida and North Carolina are among the states that will add congressional seats next year, after releasing population data that reapportions members of the House of Representatives and Electoral College votes among the states.

Texas will receive two congressional seats, and Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Montana and Oregon will all gain one congressional seat.

But while the census bureau giveth, it also taketh away.

The states that will lose a congressional seat are New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The release of the data, which captured the entire U.S. population as of April 2020, sets the stage for a battle that could reshape political power in

Class="kln">Washington over the next decade.

The shift in seats to states such as Texas and Florida, where Republicans control the statehouses, could be enough to erase Democrats' razor-thin majority in the House.

As for the U.S. population, overall, it stood at 331,449,281 as of April 2020, a 7.4% increase over the previous decade, according to the agency.

Washington, D.C.

Grew by 14.6% to a population of close to 700,000.

Congressional Democrats have passed legislation to admit the District of Columbia as the 51st state, but Republicans oppose the measure.