BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts elected the first black U.S. senator in modern times and the nation’s second black governor, yet there remains a proportional lack of diversity in the state’s congressional delegation and Legislature.
The situation is reflective of the nation as a whole, where minorities comprise a growing share of the U.S. population but remain underrepresented in Congress and most statehouses, according to an Associated Press analysis of demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Massachusetts has the largest population of the states with all-white congressional representation.
The state’s population is 73.8 percent white, but 92 percent of its state legislators are white.
The latest round of redistricting doubled the number of state House districts in which minorities comprise a majority of the population, and also created the state’s first “minority-majority” congressional district.
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