Republican governors are pressing the Biden administration Census Bureau to release the census data as soon as possible. This is so that they can redraw congressional districts, something that happens every ten years per the Constitution.
Fifteen Republican governors signed a letter addressed to Gina Raimondo, Biden's Secretary of Commerce, urging her to release redistricting information from the census.
?? Republican governors are holding Biden accountable & defending the rights of their constituents.
— The RGA (@The_RGA) June 22, 2021
2020 Census data is nearly half a year late, this is detrimental to redrawing accurate district lines, limiting states’ constitutional authority. https://t.co/AJdcFKdyAY
"While we recognize the difficulties associated with completing a decennial census amid a pandemic, the ongoing delay in the release of 2020 Census redistricting data places our states in a nearly impossible situation to redraw lines prior to the 2022 election cycle," the governors wrote. "Consequently, we urge you to release redistricting data this month or as soon as possible prior to the delayed release date of September 30, 2021, and the release of the 'legacy format' data on August 16, 2021."
This comes after the November elections gave Republicans the upper hand in redrawing Congressional districts. As FiveThirtyEight points out, "Both parties went into the election with a chance to draw more congressional districts than the other, but the end result was just about the best-case scenario for Republicans." Republicans have the opportunity to capitalize on redrawing the lines for 188 seats in the House, a whopping 43 percent of all the seats in the House, while Democrats only have that opportunity for 73 seats, which comes out to be 17 percent of the whole.
The governors argued that "further delaying the release of redistricting data negatively impacts redistricting efforts nationwide, places state governments in an unnecessarily precarious position, and presents compounding delays in operations at every level of government."
Among the governors who signed the letter are Ron DeSantis of Florida, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Brian Kemp of Georgia.