Congressional district

A congressional district is an electoral district for the election of members of the United States House of Representatives. During congressional elections in the United States, the voting population of each constituency determines a person to take a seat in the House of Representatives to represent their constituency.

The boundaries of these congressional election districts are drawn by the states themselves according to the seats in the House of Representatives allocated to them, usually every 10 years after the census, and the population in each constituency must be as equal as possible. Most states take this principle very carefully and draw constituencies whose populations differ by no more than one person. In most states, the state legislature is responsible for drawing the electoral districts, and it passes them as a simple law. Therefore, the legislative and gubernatorial elections (since the latter can veto them) prior to the census take on special importance in allowing the gerrymandering of constituencies in favor of the ruling party. This process is called gerrymandering, but it is often criticized as undemocratic, which is why many states have handed over the division of electoral districts to independent commissions.

The distribution of the total of 435 seats among the states is done according to their population strength, which is determined by the United States Census Bureau by means of a census conducted every ten years, using the Hill-Huntington method, whereby at least one seat is allocated to each state. A congressional election district had a population of about 710,000 according to the last census in 2010.

Due to large population differences between states and the fixed number of seats to be apportioned, states have widely varying numbers of seats. For example, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming each have only one congressional electoral district (called an 'at-large district'), while California has 53 members of Congress in the House of Representatives.

Statistics

• The largest congressional electoral district by area is the Alaska At-Large electoral district, which is coterminous with the U.S. state of Alaska, at 1,717,854 square miles.
• In fifth place is that largest congressional election district in the U.S., but part of a state, New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District, which is 185,805 square miles.
• 9 of the 10 smallest congressional election districts in the USA are in New York, including the smallest of all 435 congressional election districts with an area of 26.5 km²: the 13th election district of New York.

The 20 largest constituencies

The 20 smallest constituencies

Number

According to the 2020 Census, Texas will gain two additional House seats and will have 38 House seats in the future. Further, Colorado (8 in the future), Florida (28), Montana (2), North Carolina (14), and Oregon (6) will each gain an additional constituency. The following seven states will lose a constituency after the 2022 Midterm Elections: Illinois (17 in the future), California (52), Michigan (13), Ohio (15), New York (26), Pennsylvania (17), and West Virginia (2).