A great geographic political shift is slowly taking place across America, as people flee Democrat-run blue states like New York, Illinois and California for Republican-run red states like Texas, Florida and Tennessee. The most recent Census data showed California and New York shrinking in population while Texas and Florida were among the fastest growing states. "It seems that every ten years when there is redistricting (after the Census), you see a bit of a shift going generally from blue states to red states, and that trend is accelerating in recent years," says Chuck DeVore with the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF).
DeVore, who is himself a blue state transplant from California, tells KTRH this trend became more dramatic during the pandemic. "Red states were much more apt to reopen more quickly, while blue states were much more likely to stay locked down," he says. "A lot of people got really frustrated by that, and left blue states to move to red ones."
While the trend has so far resulted in a minor shift in some Congressional seats and electoral votes, critics warn this won't be the political sea change Republicans are hoping for. "This is more akin to a glacier," says DeVore. "But it is gradually picking up steam, and over time it's going to make a bigger difference."
But don't expect blue states to simply take this exodus. They're already fighting back, by importing immigrant voters, changing voting rules, and California is even threatening to punish wealthy residents who flee the state by placing a new tax on them. "The greatest ability blue states have to frustrate the movement, is to use the unelected power of the federal bureaucracy to essentially level the differences between blue and red states," says DeVore. "That's why it's so important to get a handle on what we call the administrative state."