While the media remain steadfastly focused on the weather (remember what Sam Clemens said), Cuomo, and the regular political infighting, I strongly suspect that the most significant news of the day will come from the Census Bureau. UPI reports:
Aug. 12 (UPI) — The government on Thursday will unveil detailed data from the 2020 Census that will have a significant impact on federal elections for the rest of the 2020s, beginning with next year’s midterms.
The Census Bureau will release key population data that will begin a political redistricting process — redrawing congressional districts — that occurs once every decade.
he data includes how the ethnic, racial and voting-age makeup of neighborhoods across the United States have shifted since the last Census in 2010.
“The U.S. Census Bureau will hold a news conference to discuss the release of the first local level results from the 2020 Census,” the bureau said in a statement earlier this month. “States use these data on race, Hispanic origin, and the voting-age population to redraw the boundaries of their congressional and state legislative districts.
“The news conference will provide initial analysis of the first local level results from the 2020 Census on population change, race, ethnicity, the age 18 and over population, and housing occupancy status.”
The results will be released at the news conference, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. EDT Thursday.
That’s just about an hour from now. The data that will be released will be “raw data” which I interpret as meaning that it will take a while for the news outlets and most politicians to figure out what happened.
If you think there has been a lot of bitching, moaning, complaining, and finger-pointing over the last 18 months, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The complaints, particularly from places like New York, Illinois, and California, will be deafening. They should count their lucky stars. I strongly suspect that were the census to be redone today they would fare much worse.
The delays in the release of this information will necessitate a mad dash to redistricting. In some places incumbents will be pitted against incumbents of the same party. The inevitable court challenges will only make the problem worse.
