Bad news for Dems: Congressional reapportionment data from Census likely to benefit GOP

Remember the heavy push from the Obama administration and other Democrats last year and in the early part of this year to get people to fill out their Census forms – all in the unsaid but nevertheless clearly there hopes that more “minorities” would fill out their forms, thereby increasing the possibility that Democrats would gain more Congressional seats?  Doesn’t look like their hopes will be realized (via Memeorandum):

Democrats are expected to get more bad news when the census data is released Tuesday.

Republicans netted 63 House seats in the 2010 election, and now several heavily Democratic states are projected to lose congressional seats under reapportionment data from the 2010 census.

Population trends over the past decade have seen Democratic states in the Northeast and industrial Midwest lose inhabitants, while Republican-leaning states in the South and Southwest have gained residents.

The question is which blue states will be hit the hardest.

The latest apportionment projections from Election Data Services show the biggest gainers next year will be the red-leaning Texas and Florida, while the biggest losers are likely to be New York and Ohio. The Lone Star State will gain at least three seats and is on the cusp of gaining a fourth. Florida is likely to gain at least two new seats, and the addition of a third is possible, depending on the final population figures.

Ohio, a presidential bellwether, is likely to lose two seats, while New York will lose one and could lose a second.

Six other states are projected to gain seats: Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, South Carolina, Utah and Washington state.

The other states projected to lose: Illinois, New Jersey, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Missouri and Massachusetts.

The final numbers also stand to shift the balance in the Electoral College, potentially delivering a blow to President Obama’s reelection prospects. Since electoral votes are awarded based on the size of a state’s congressional delegation, heavily Republican Texas stands to gain as many as four electoral votes ahead of 2012. In a tight presidential contest, a small handful of electoral votes could make all the difference. Of the states projected to lose seats, Obama won seven in 2008.

Awww.