Projections expert says RI will lose a congressional seat

By Bianca Buono

bbuono@abc6.com

@BBuonoABC6

The latest Census information has a projections expert saying Rhode Island will likely lose one of its two congressional seats. Since 1789, Rhode Island has had at least two seats but that could soon become a thing of the past.

"You see the population in Rhode Island has continued to not grow to the degree that other states have,” said Kimball Brace of Election Data Services.

Brace says based on the 2016 U.S. Census data, by 2020 Rhode Island will go from two congressional seats to only one.

"You’re only about 5,000 people away from losing the seat as we sit today. When we project those numbers up to 2020, that’s when we see that indeed by that time you won’t have enough population,” said Brace in a phone interview with ABC6.

Congressman Jim Langevin has represented Rhode Island’s second congressional district since 2001 and Congressman David Cicilline has represented district one since 2011. If a seat is lost and they both wanted to stay in the House, they would then have to run against each other.

"It would be extremely difficult because both of our congressmen do a wonderful job,” said Joe McNamara, Rhode Island’s Democratic Party Chair.

Losing a congressional seat would also mean losing a seat in the electoral college.

"Right now we all know how important that is so we would go from four to three,” McNamara said.

Political analyst Joe Cammarano says the seat has been in jeopardy for years and if it’s lost, it won’t necessarily be a bad thing.

"The reality is it’s not going to make much impact on what happens on a day to day basis here,” said Cammarano.

Nothing is set in stone yet. A population spike could save the seat so state leaders are encouraging everyone to fill out Census forms.

Next month, there’s a meeting scheduled at CCRI to discuss Census estimates and projections.

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