Trump-Backed Gov Candidate Joins Lawsuit Alleging Dirty Census Tricks Helped Democrats

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida has joined a lawsuit challenging what plaintiffs describe as the “unlawful manipulation” of the 2020 census that allegedly caused the GOP stronghold to lose out on congressional seats.

The suit was originally filed in September by the University of South Florida College Republicans and the Pinellas County Young Republicans, but was amended Wednesday to add Donalds — a three-term congressman and Trump-endorsed candidate for Florida governor — as a plaintiff. The lawsuit’s plaintiffs allege that the U.S. Census Bureau counted “imaginary people instead of real Americans,” costing Florida two additional House seats.

“Our Founders made it crystal clear in the Constitution that an actual count of every person, every ten years, is used to decide representation in Congress, not flawed statistical guesswork,” Donalds said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “The blatant disregard for our Constitution and federal law by the Census Bureau in 2020 was not only highly illegal but also directly corrupted the electoral process.”

📺 Embedded media — coming soon

The Census Bureau conducts a nationwide population count every decade, the results of which determine the apportionment of congressional seats and the balance of political power across the country. The census has been criticized, including by President Donald Trump, for allegedly inflating numbers in blue states and including illegal immigrants.