NYS to lose at least one House seat after sluggish population growth

Sluggish population growth in New York will cost the Empire State one, if not two, congressional seats in Washington, the Census Bureau is expected to announce this week.

Losing some of its 29 House seats will shrink the New York delegation to its smallest in two centuries, according to the New York Times.

The nation’s 435 congressional seats are reapportioned each decade when states’ populations are measured. With more people taking up residence in the West and South, however, New York is at risk of losing clout in Washington.

Two fewer House seats would mean the 2013 delegation is as small numerically as it was in 1813, when James Madison was president and only 1 million people lived in New York, giving it 27 of the nation’ s 181 House seats.

Recent population growth in New York City and surrounding suburbs is likely to result in a downstate power shift.

It remains to be seen exactly which seats will be on the chopping block. The party that rules the state Legislature influences the decision. Although the New York Assembly has a Democratic majority, control of the Senate is still up in the air because of undecided races.