If Texas secedes at the same time Puerto Rico becomes a state...

[kurt_cagle]

3. Unless there's a balance

Create a red state from a blue one(s) leaning purple, with a distinct red population - say the Eastern half of Oregon and Washington. This was in essence what happened with Hawaii and Alaska. Hawaii was really only considered with the much more Republican Alaska in the mix. Do that and the only thing that happens is that the number of House members goes up by 12 members (6 for both Puerto Rico and 6 for State X), and you have 104 Senators. In general, states have usually come in as pairs for precisely this reason.