A coalition of Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), has introduced the Equal Representation Act, a bill designed to ensure that only American citizens are counted when determining congressional districts and Electoral College votes — a change that would dramatically reshape the nation’s political map and how power is distributed across states.
Under current law, the U.S. Census counts all residents — including non-citizens, such as green card holders, visa holders, and illegal aliens — when apportioning House seats and assigning Electoral College votes to states. The Equal Representation Act would end that standard by requiring the Census Bureau to include a citizenship question and to use that data to exclude non-citizens from apportionment calculations.
“It is unconscionable that illegal immigrants and non-citizens are counted toward congressional district apportionment and our electoral map for the presidency,” said Hagerty in a statement to Breitbart News, which first reported the legislation. “Desperate Democrats have back-filled the mass exodus [from blue states] with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress or their electoral votes, hence artificially boosting their political power and in turn diluting the power of other Americans’ votes.”
The bill is co-sponsored by a long list of Republican senators, including Katie Britt (AL), Ted Budd (NC), Kevin Cramer (ND), Steve Daines (MT), Ron Johnson (WI), Rick Scott (FL), and others. These lawmakers argue that including non-citizens in the count unfairly shifts representation toward blue states and sanctuary jurisdictions, which often house larger illegal immigrant populations.
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) called the current system “a power grab” by Democrats. “For years, Democrat-run sanctuary cities and states have used millions of illegal aliens to grow their political influence,” Budd said. “This bill makes sure that Democrats no longer take power away from American citizens who deserve to have their voices and votes equally accounted for.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) added: “The law is clear—illegal immigrants are not citizens of the United States and should not be counted as such. This bill is a commonsense measure to prohibit illegal immigrants from being counted in censuses, so that sanctuary cities can’t exploit the electoral college and taxpayer resources.”
According to a 2023 report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), for each 1% increase in the non-citizen share of a district, the Democratic vote share rises by 1.8%.
The study also highlighted that of the 24 districts where one in five adults is not a citizen, only four were won by Republicans in 2022. Meanwhile, in the 54 districts where less than 2% of adults are non-citizens, only five are represented by Democrats.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) summed up the GOP’s position succinctly: “Americans should decide American elections. States like California and New York should not be able to inflate their votes in the Electoral College — and in Congress — by counting non-citizens.”
Democrats have opposed the measure, arguing that the U.S. Constitution mandates that the census count “persons,” not just citizens. Last year, House Democrats unanimously rejected a similar version of the Equal Representation Act, preserving the current system.
Sen. Hagerty emphasized that the bill’s goal is not to strip legal residents of dignity or rights, but to preserve the foundational principle that representation should reflect the will of American citizens.
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There is no way that illegals or non citizens of any kind should be voting IN ANY ELECTIONS to include local ones. In the Constitution; specifically in the amendments, only Citizens can vote in Federal elections for federal positions. Election law should make it a bit clearer as the founding fathers never dreamed any American would try to do some of the things that liberals are doing today. In addition to making the federal elections much clearer, laws should dictate that no local elections can include non citizen voters as well. An amendment to the Constitution should follow as soon as possible.
This change is a no brainer. Only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote (or at least that’s the law) so only U.S. citizens should be counted toward drawing up districts and the Electoral College.
“America First” = Citizens first
Stop Globalization of our country.
Stop the “New World Order”.
Defeat the corrupt Establishment Elite.
Something else which will set Dims hair on fire. This strips another of their fraudulent ways of increasing their influence.
I propose an amendment to the bill calling for a 2026 census to reallocate congressional districts and electoral votes by the 2028 election. I would propose a 2025 census to reallocate districts for the 2026 election, but I recognize the logistical issues related to doing that in the time available.
Note: The actual language of Article 1 of the Constitution doesn’t state the “enumeration”, aka census, must be conducted on a specific schedule. It states it shall be conducted within 3 years of the first meeting of Congress and within every subsequent 10 year term, in such manner as they shall direct by law. That language is consistent with a census more frequently than every 10 years, as long as Congress passes a law directing a census AT LEAST once every 10 years.