FACT FOCUS: DeSantis’ misleading claims about why Florida missed out on a congressional seat

DeSantis’ desire for the extra congressional seat is different from recent efforts by states like Texas and California to redraw their congressional districts more advantageously for their state’s dominant party. It’s also different from Republican President Donald Trump’s calling for a new, mid-decade census that would exclude people in the U.S. illegally.

Here’s a look at the facts:

DESANTIS: “Even the Biden administration acknowledged that Florida got shortchanged in the reapportionment stemming from the last census.”

THE FACTS: The Biden administration never said that. DeSantis is referring to the bureau’s post-enumeration survey, or PES, which was a self-evaluation of the quality of the once-a-decade census count, examining where there were overcounts and undercounts. The PES released in 2022 by the bureau’s career statisticians and demographers during the Biden administration showed that Florida had an undercount of almost 3.5%, meaning around 761,000 residents were missed. An analysis by Election Data Services shows the Sunshine State needed only around 171,500 more residents to gain an extra seat.

Five other states had undercounts like Florida — Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. Eight state had overcounts: Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah. Undercounts signal people were missed, and the populations which are typically hardest to count include children, people who don’t speak English, racial and ethnic minorities and people without stable housing. Overcounts suggest they were counted more than once, as for example, children of divorced parents who share custody or people with vacation homes.