Mass. likely to lose seat in US House

The Boston Globe reports:

Massachusetts almost certainly will lose one of its 10 congressional districts after next year’s census, the result of a long-term population shift that is giving Southern and Western states more political power in Washington at the expense of the Northeast, say specialists who have been poring over data in advance of the 2010 count.

Long-term economic and demographic shifts in favor of warmer climates with less expensive housing are to blame for the state’s slower growth, and thus the loss of a congressional district, according to estimates. Massachusetts’ population grew by just 2.3 percent from 2000 to 2008, compared with 8 percent nationally, a disparity that is expected to continue next year and beyond.

“We did five different scenarios projecting the population forward, and in each of those five scenarios, Massachusetts would lose a seat,’’ said Kimball Brace of Election Data Services, a political consulting firm in Washington. Demographic trends are “not a good sign from a Massachusetts standpoint. You’ve got a long way to go to keep the seat.’’

Several other Northeastern and Midwestern states, including New York and New Jersey, are also expected to lose seats, said Brace.

The struggles of Blue America.