Latino populations in Clark and Washoe counties surged by 23 percent and 30 percent over the last decade, and white residents declined by 14.5 percent and 3.8 percent over the same period, respectively, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau, kicking off the battle to redraw legislative districts across the nation.

Nearly 320,000 people moved to Clark County over the last decade, bringing its population to 2.3 million, up from 1.95 million, a 16 percent increase. More than 65,000 people moved to Washoe, boosting its population to more than 486,000, a 15.4 percent increase. 

Although the population increases were not enough to warrant the addition of another U.S. House district, the shifts in Clark and Washoe — the two counties where more than 88 percent of the population resides — reflected trends at the state and national levels.

Nevada’s white population shrank by 11 percent to 51.2 percent of the total, and the nation’s share fell by 8.6 percent to about 58 percent of the population. That decline came as the Silver State’s Latino population grew by 24.4 percent, and the nation’s grew by 23 percent. Latinos make up 28.7 percent of Nevada’s population, and 18.7 percent of the country’s.  

Nevada residents identifying as African-American increased by 39.4.percent to 9.8 percent of the population and the Asian population increased by 39.5 percent to 8.8 percent of the population. 

The data will be used by Nevada’s majority-Democrat Legislature and the governor’s office to redraw the legislative districts at the federal and state levels. A special session of the Legislature is expected to take up the matter in the fall.

Experts believe that state lawmakers will likely dilute the 1st District, a safe Democratic seat held by Rep. Dina Titus, in order to strengthen the 3rd and possibly the 4th districts, which are less secure for Democrats. 

Redrawing district lines is driven by a constitutional requirement that each district have about the same population. In April, the Census Bureau reported that the state’s population grew 15 percent to more than 3.1 million. 

Please read the full article here: Latinos, other minorities fuel Nevada’s population growth ahead of redistricting

This portion of the article is shared as part of our collaboration with The Nevada Independent. This story was originally published on August 12, 2021, and written by Humberto Sanchez and Riley Snyder.