IOWA - The new 2020 Census information shows Iowa will hold onto its four members of the U.S. House of Representatives, while several states will lose or gain congressional seats.
Iowa was among 38 states that didn’t gain or lose U.S. House representation.
Six states gained seats with Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon gaining one while Texas gained two. California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia each lost a seat.
As of 2020 each member of the U.S. House from Iowa represents almost 798,000 people.
Census Bureau population totals will next be used to redraw voting districts in the state.
But that data, which is broken down to local levels, being delayed by the pandemic until later this year.
Iowa law requires the state legislature to approve new voting districts by September 1st.
If that deadline is not met, which now seems likely, then the state Supreme Court will redraw the districts.
The Supreme Court has acknowledged as much, saying it'll meet its requirement to handle redistricting when the deadline passes.
In a rare statement, the court said it's publicly outlining its plan because of considerable public concern surrounding the redistricting process, and because it's aware that other state supreme courts have issued orders relating to redistricting.
The court said it generally does not comment publicly on matters that may come before it or that may be the subject of possible litigation.
State law requires redistricting to be conducted in a nonpartisan manner.
Overall, Iowa grew by 4.7 percent in the last ten years, well below the national increase of 7.4 percent.The national population growth was at its lowest level in decades, dating back to the 1930s.
Iowa's 2020 population is 3,190,369, up from 3,046,355 in 2010. Iowa grew faster than neighboring Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri, but slower than Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota.