Population boom could remake 2020 map

[DonViejo]

Growth surge ripples across key presidential states.

By MARC CAPUTO, STEVEN SHEPARD and SCOTT BLAND 12/19/2018 06:28 PM EST Updated 12/19/2018 06:43 PM EST

MIAMI — A handful of presidential battleground states experienced a population explosion over the past year, altering the landscape in at least three key states that stand to play a pivotal role in the 2020 election.

Those population shifts are poised to have a tangible impact in 2020 — with demographic shifts cementing Florida’s premier swing-state status, vaulting Arizona onto the list of 2020 swing states and perhaps putting Nevada further out of reach for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.

Both the year-over-year changes and the longer-term trends this decade point to a transformed electoral map in 2020 — shaped both by population shifts and the Trump-enhanced realignment that has come to define modern politics. The population shifts could have even more material impacts after 2020, when the decennial reapportionment process will remake the House of Representatives in 2022 and the Electoral College for the 2024 presidential election.

New Census Bureau estimates released Wednesday of the fastest-growing states between 2017 and 2018 report Nevada is roughly tied for first for the greatest population growth by percentage over the past year (with Idaho, at 2.1 percent). But right behind were Arizona — where Democrats won a Senate election last month for the first time since 1988 — at 1.7 percent, and Florida, which is already the nation’s largest swing state and grew at a 1.5-percent clip over the past year.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/19/population-boom-could-remake-2020-map-1070784