Monday, June 29, 2026

The Districts Are Too Damn Big

Many posts have discussed reapportionment and redistricting.  There have long been proposals to enlarge the House, thereby creating less populous districts.


Bruce Mehlman:

At the Constitutional Convention, George Washington spoke only once — to urge that representation remain close to the people, with a ratio of one representative for every 30,000. For more than a century, Congress followed that blueprint, with the House growing steadily from 65 members in 1789 to 435 by 1913. And then it stopped. Today, the actual ratio is roughly one representative for every 760,000 Americans. Is there any population at which a House district becomes too big to represent?