Iowa will be losing a seat in the House of Representatives as a result of the 2010 Census.

Although the population of Iowa is slowly increasing, it makes up a significantly smaller percentage of the total population of the United States than it did in 2000.

“It has long been anticipated that Iowa would lose a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but it’s still unfortunate to see the people of Iowa’s representation in Washington diminished in number,” said Iowa congressman Tom Latham, R, in an e-mail.

As of the 2010 Census, Iowa’s population is estimated at 3,007,856, making up slightly less than one percent of the population of the U.S. Accordingly, the state will only receive four delegates in the lower house after the 2012 primary election.

Iowa’s current representatives are Steve King, R, Leonard Boswell, D, David Loebsack, D, Latham and Bruce Braley, D, all of whom are relatively new to the House – the longest, Latham, has been in the House since 1995 and the newest, Braley and Loebsack, were elected in 2007.

The House of Representatives is a 435-member body of the lower house of Congress made up of representatives of each state, according to their population. Iowa currently has five representatives in the house, but the number will be reduced to four due to its lower population relative to other states.

“There’s the reshuffling going on that happens every 10 years because of the census,” said Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science. “Our influence in Washington is shrinking and that’s never good. That’s one less person in Congress who can represent issues in Iowa.”

It’s hard to tell how this could affect students at Iowa State, but Schmidt is optimistic.

“I’m not sure it has a direct impact on us, because one vote in Congress isn’t necessarily the crucial vote that will help us out,” Schmidt said. “We will still have members of Congress, both Democratic and Republican, who we can talk to to make sure that college students have access to universities and financial aid.”

Iowa had 11 delegates from 1883 to 1932 and has slowly been decreasing since. The future doesn’t look promising either – Iowa’s population is predicted to continue to flatline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Iowa isn’t the only state losing out. Other states like Illinois, Michigan and Missouri will be losing a delegate, and some states like New York and Ohio will lose two.

Along with losing a delegate in the House, Iowa will lose one electoral vote that could reduce Iowa’s influence as a swing state in the U.S. Electoral College. Schmidt wasn’t concerned about Iowa losing its influence as a swing state because Iowa is divided relatively equally between Republicans and Democrats.

Iowa legislature will also have to reorganize the congressional districts.

Reorganizing districts can be a controversial undertaking that can lead to unfair manipulation of boundaries of the electoral constituency called gerrymandering. However, Latham has faith in the Iowa legislature.

“Iowans are lucky to have what is widely regarded as one of the fairest redistributing processes in the country governing how the new congressional districts will be drawn,” Latham said.