State Lawmakers Urge Trump To Appoint New Census Director

A coalition of more than 140 state lawmakers is calling on President Trump to immediately appoint a Census Bureau director to ensure an “accurate” citizen count for the 2030 Census, The Federalist has learned.

“The Census determines political power in America for the next decade. After admitted inaccuracies and distortions created by statistical sampling and other schemes like differential privacy that were used in the 2020 Census, we need a bold new Census director who will take the reins post haste to make the necessary changes to the process,” Louisiana Freedom Caucus Chair and Rep. Beryl Amedée told The Federalist. “We must ensure an honest and accurate citizen count in 2030. The clock is ticking.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In a Monday letter organized by the State Freedom Caucus Network (SFCN), the growing number of Republican officials urged Trump to appoint a director to the U.S. Census Bureau, which has operated without a Senate-confirmed leader since early 2025. The agency is responsible for taking a census of the American population every 10 years and — more notably — decides how many U.S. House seats each state is awarded (known as “congressional apportionment”).

While detailing the need for an “accurate, reliable count of our nation’s citizens,” the lawmakers expressed concern that the Census Bureau “has drifted from its constitutional mission.” They specifically signaled dissatisfaction with the bureau’s “continued reliance on differential privacy, statistical adjustments, and other methodologies that corrupt reported data to distort an actual enumeration of our citizenry,” which they argued “has eroded public trust.”

The Census Bureau released a report in 2022 admitting that it undercounted mostly Republican-led states (five of six) and overcounted mostly Democrat-led states (six of eight) in its 2020 census. Put another way, mostly Democrat states were given congressional seats they didn’t deserve, while mostly Republican states were wrongly deprived of seats.

Addressing Trump, the signers of Monday’s letter also expressed worry about the “removal of the citizenship question from the household census form.” They argued that such a policy “has empowered the non-citizen population count to deform congressional apportionment and state and federal redistricting.”

As Federalist Senior Contributor Ben Weingarten previously observed, “Continued inclusion of noncitizens in the Census would mean that millions of illegal aliens and temporary visa holders would continue to distort Americans’ political representation by skewing the allocation of House seats and presidential electors, along with the distribution of trillions of dollars in federal funds.” A January 2026 forecast by the American Redistricting Project estimated that an accurate 2030 apportionment without noncitizens would lead to blue states like California and New York losing House seats and red states like Florida and Tennessee gaining seats.

“The U.S. Constitution calls for an actual enumeration of our citizens; not a misleading tally padded by illegal aliens and skewed by statistical gimmickry,” Missouri Freedom Caucus Chair and Sen. Nick Schroer told The Federalist. “President Trump must nominate a Census Bureau director who will restore that constitutional standard and ensure the 2030 Census accurately counts only U.S. citizens.”

Trump’s efforts to include the citizenship question on the census took center stage during his first administration in the Supreme Court’s 2019 Department of Commerce v. New York decision. While the high court found that the federal government possesses the authority to ask the question, a majority of justices ruled that the administration did not “adequately” explain its move to reinstate the query, which effectively prevented it from being included on the 2020 Census.

The latter ruling was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s liberal justices in the majority.

The Republican lawmakers concluded their letter by listing several “foundational elements” they say a new Census director must take into consideration when “lay[ing] the groundwork” for the 2030 Census. This includes “Restoring the constitutional focus on an actual enumeration of our citizens instead of social and political engineering” and “Pursuing lawful avenues to obtain and publish accurate citizenship data so that legislators, policymakers, courts, and the public have reliable information available for our requisite constitutional and statutory purposes.”

“Mr. President, your Administration has rightly and consistently emphasized election integrity as a fundamental part of regaining America’s trust in our government. Key decisions are being made at the Census Bureau now that will affect America’s path forward,” the letter reads. “Nominating a qualified Census Bureau director at this crucial time is an integral part of ensuring that the 2030 Census accurately fulfills its constitutional purpose.”

The Census Bureau is currently being spearheaded by Acting Director George Cook, who serves as the deputy under secretary in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood