After Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told Fox News that former President Joe Biden "shortchanged" his state in the 2020 census, California Governor Gavin Newsom bluntly—and awkwardly—fact-checked him.
A few days ago, DeSantis "announced his support for an update to the 2020 Decennial Census, which could potentially yield additional congressional seats for Florida," per an official press release. His announcement was a response to a redistricting effort in California, which itself is a response to GOP-led gerrymandering in Texas backed by President Donald Trump.
Drumming up support for this effort in an appearance on Life, Liberty, & Levin, he said:
"Florida has been growing. It's been growing a lot since I've been governor but even before that, it was adding population, not at the same rate, and we got shortchanged in the last census. We should have had two or three seats. We only got one seat and that was really the Biden administration's doing."
"We are working with the Attorney General of Florida, James Uthmeier, to talk to the Commerce Department. He's written a letter. Even Biden's administration a couple of years after acknowledged that Florida got shortchanged so we're asking them to redo that, award us another seat."
"That would obviously trigger us [having] to do a new map."
You can hear what DeSantis said in the video below.
But facts are inconvenient for DeSantis because the census is taken every 10 years, which means as Newsom pointed out in a reply on X:
"Donald Trump was President during the last census."
You can see Newsom's post below.
Others joined Newsom in calling DeSantis out.
DeSantis is pushing for a rare mid-decade census that could reshape congressional maps before the 2026 midterms.
Speaking at Palm Beach State College last week, DeSantis said he and the Trump administration want Florida to gain at least one more U.S. House seat — which, he noted, would also add an electoral vote in the next presidential election.
Meanwhile, Trump has moved full speed ahead with attacking Democrats who see through his and the wider GOP's efforts to rig congressional maps in their favor, most recently lashing out at Maryland Governor Wes Moore after Moore said he may redistrict his state to eliminate its one Republican-held House seat.
