Newsom Critiques Bank’s Comments on Census Data

California Governor Gavin Newsom took to social media on Monday to call out Senator Jim Banks regarding his comments about the 2020 census data. Newsom implied that former President Donald Trump had a hand in any challenges surrounding the census figures. However, data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that Newsom’s statements may be misleading.

Banks voiced his concerns about the 2020 census, labeling it a “scam” and accusing the Biden administration of manipulating data using a privacy formula that miscounted 14 states, allegedly skewing numbers to benefit Democrats. In a post on X, he emphasized that all Americans ought to be counted accurately.

Later, Newsom responded, pointing out that Trump was indeed in office during the census. While this is factually correct, it somewhat obscures the complexities of how the census data might have been miscalculated.

The census began its counting operations on January 21, 2020, starting in Toksuk Bay, Alaska, and aimed for broad household invitations to participate by April 1, 2020. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic altered the data collection process significantly, causing delays in reporting to Congress. Initially, residents were supposed to respond by July 31, but this deadline was extended to October 15.

Notably, the delivery of redistricting data, which was supposed to be between February 18 and March 31, 2021, was postponed by six months. The constitutionally mandated process for calculating and distributing census data also faced delays. The allocation data, originally set to be distributed on December 28, 2020, was pushed back to April 26, 2021, after Trump had left office and Biden had taken over.

On April 26, 2021, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo communicated the finalized population totals to President Biden, who then took the necessary steps to inform Congress about how many seats each state would receive moving forward.