Mass. to lose 1 of its 10 U.S. House seats

BOSTON -- Massachusetts is set to lose one of its 10 congressional seats in 2013 after the U.S. Census Bureau released its state population totals.

The US population is 308 million, according to the 2010 Census, which is shuffling things up on Capitol Hill.

It’s a political game of musical chairs, and one that Massachusetts is losing. The Commonwealth must give up a seat in the House of Representatives.

A handful of states are getting ready to do the census shuffle with representatives on Capitol Hill. Many are gaining seats, but others like Massachusetts are losing representation.

Right now, Massachusetts has 10 representatives in Washington. But, based on the numbers, we are about to lose one. It's not a good trend when it comes to Massachusetts, and it's influence in Washington.

Back in 1910, we had 16 seats in the House. By 1990, that dropped to 10 seats. Now in 2010 Mass. is losing another seat and dropping to single digits, which is setting up what could be a nasty fight over how to draw up the new districts.

While America now has more than 300 million people. The new census numbers show Massachusetts among the states with the slowest growth. The biggest impact may not be in population, but in politics.

"If you have 10 advocates, irrespective of what party they belong to, you're better off than having nine advocates. So we’ve lost on advocate in Congress for our positions and our causes," said Secretary of State Bill Galvin.

One less voice doesn't necessarily mean less clout, according to the governor.

“Clout is not just in numbers. It’s in quality and depth and our delegation is very high quality and very deep,” said Gov. Patrick.

But a loss of districts almost always leads to a loss of money for projects.

“$400 billion a year will be distributed by the federal government for the next ten years,” said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

Losing a seat in Washington sets up a battle on Beacon Hill to redraw the map into new districts in which politics always comes into play.

On the national stage, the Republicans are the big winner, with the population shifting from blue states to red.

Eight other states will lose one seat, and many of those are blue, as America’s mass migration to the south continues.

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