The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks the court to raise the House's membership to 436 and award Delaware a second congressional district. Delaware currently has a single at-large representative, Democrat Sarah McBride, who represents the entire state.

Plaintiffs David Redlawsk and Kevin Price contend that Delaware residents are substantially underrepresented compared with residents of other states, despite the constitutional requirement that House seats be apportioned by population.

"Delawareans have a lot less power in the U.S. House of Representatives through our one representative than Montanans do through their two representatives," Redlawsk said. "That is just basically unfair. It violates the idea of equal protection and equal voice for voters in Delaware compared to other states."

According to the 2020 census, Delaware has about 991,000 residents and one House member, while Montana, with roughly 1.09 million residents, has two. That means Delaware's lone representative serves nearly twice as many constituents as each of Montana's representatives. The plaintiffs calculate that Delaware residents receive 23.2% less representation per person than the national average.

The lawsuit names Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the official performing the duties of Census Bureau director, and the clerk of the U.S. House as defendants. The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.

**A cap set in 1911**

The Constitution requires House seats to be distributed among the states according to population, with every state guaranteed at least one representative. For much of the nation's history the House grew along with the population, but in 1911 Congress capped the chamber at 435 members. Lawmakers later adopted a 1929 law creating an automatic process for reallocating seats after each decennial census, without requiring a new apportionment vote.

The result is a House that has stayed at 435 voting members even as the country's population more than tripled. The average number of residents per House member has grown from roughly 210,000 to more than 760,000 after the 2020 census.

The suit argues that the fixed number of seats has produced increasingly unequal representation between states. Idaho, West Virginia and South Dakota also fall substantially below the national average, but Delaware is the most affected, according to the complaint. Rhode Island has only about 107,000 more residents than Delaware but twice as many House members. Delaware has roughly 413,000 more residents than one-representative Wyoming, meaning Wyoming residents have about 1.7 times as much representation per person.

**One seat, not a national reapportionment**

Rather than seeking a nationwide reapportionment, the lawsuit asks the court to add a single congressional district, which would increase the voting membership of Congress for the first time in 115 years.

"The 435-seat limitation imposes a severe and avoidable disparity on Delaware's voters," the complaint argues. "The remedy would give Delaware's voters the additional representation their population requires and leave the allocations of the other 49 states intact."

The court could rule the 1911 law unconstitutional and give Congress a chance to fix it; if lawmakers failed to act, the court could award the state the new district. The plaintiffs have asked for a decision in time for the 2028 House elections, making the case the latest front in the redistricting battles that have consumed part of the 2026 election cycle. Given the November elections, Delaware Democrats would have the authority to draw a map dividing the state into two districts, giving them an advantage in both.

Redlawsk, who also just won a race for state representative, said he favors "nonpartisan redistricting" and believes fair districts that "represent the state properly" can be drawn.

Michael Dimino, a law professor at Widener University, called the suit "frivolous."

"There is nothing in the Constitution that remotely requires Congress to expand the House," he said in an email. "Furthermore, some state is always harmed by the method by which the 435 seats are allocated, so the complaint that Delaware got the short end of the stick does not mean that the Constitution has been violated."

Redlawsk acknowledged that any change would initially put other states in less favorable positions, but he described the effort as "a starting point" in a longer campaign.

"We need this discussion about the House cap," he said. "Ultimately, I'm in Delaware. I want to protect my rights as a Delawarean, but I think the discussion is in fact much broader than that and needs to be much broader than that."