It’s not hard to understand why California lost a congressional seat – and representation in Congress – while Florida and Texas picked up congressional seats. After losing people steadily since 2017, California’s growth was slow enough to lose a congressional seat while Florida and Texas, where Californians are fleeing, gained one and two seats, respectively. The Associated Press reported that California still has the most people at 39.58 million but because its growth didn’t keep up with the nation’s average growth rate it will lose one of its 53 congressional seats. California’s population grew by about 2.3 million people since the 2010 Census but has been nearly flat since 2017.