Congressional-District Maps Redrawn In Minnesota: What To Know

MINNESOTA — New maps released this week show how Minnesota’s eight congressional districts will shape up for the next decade.

The maps, produced by the Minnesota Special Redistricting Panel, include several major changes, most notably in the state’s non-metro districts.

The panel set out to make as few changes to the previous maps as possible while balancing population equally between the eight districts.

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The panel said it also worked to reflect Minnesota’s growing population of Black, Indigenous and people of color in the new congressional districts while trying to limit how many counties, cities and townships were split between districts.

“We have not drawn the districts with the purpose of protecting, promoting, or defeating any incumbent, candidate, or political party,” the panel wrote. “Election districts do not exist for the benefit of any particular representative or political party. Rather, they exist for the people to select their representatives.”

First and Second Districts
Minnesota’s two southern districts have new boundaries, with Goodhue and Wabasha counties moving from the Second District to the First and Le Sueur County moving the other way.

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Those shifts could change the political calculus in the expected rematch between DFL U.S. Rep. Angie Craig — who announced she would seek re-election shortly after the maps were released — and Republican Tyler Kistner, who lost to Craig by about 2.3 percentage points in 2020.

The new maps are likely to make the First District more friendly for Republican candidates, Post Bulletin reported.

Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn — who died Thursday night at 59 — was expected to seek re-election in the First District.

The new First District includes all of Goodhue, Wabasha, Winona, Houston, Olmsted, Dodge, Steele, Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Waseca, Blue Earth, Nicollet, Faribault, Martin, Watonwan, Jackson, Nobles, and Rock counties, and parts of Rice and Brown counties.

“By adding Wabasha and Goodhue counties, all of the populated tribal lands of the Prairie Island Indian Community now lie within the First District,” the panel wrote. The Minnesota reservation lands of the Ho-Chunk Nation will remain in the First District.

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The I-90 corridor connects many cities in the First District and supports its “agricultural, agriculture-related processing and manufacturing, and medical industries and unites the district’s growing BIPOC population,” the panel wrote.

The new Second District, bounded by the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, includes all of Dakota, Scott and Le Sueur counties, and parts of Rice and Washington counties.

“While portions of the (Second) district retain a rural character, the population growth continues to reflect the district’s increasingly suburban and exurban character,” according to the panel.

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Reservation lands of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community remain in the Second District.

Seventh and Eighth Districts
Minnesota’s sprawling Seventh and Eighth congressional districts also swapped several counties as the state’s special redistricting panel worked to balance population and other factors.

The panel shifted the districts’ borders in northern Minnesota to move Wadena and Morrison counties into the Seventh District, which now also includes all of Cottonwood County, parts of Brown and Hubbard counties, and more of rural Stearns County.

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“These areas share the district’s core communities of interest — agriculture, agriculture-related processing and manufacturing, other light industry, and educational and other services,” the Minnesota Special Redistricting Panel wrote. “The district’s expansion honors the well-recognized distinctions between northwest and northeast Minnesota.”

The Eighth District was expanded west to include the reservation lands of the White Earth Band and Red Lake Nation, which brings all populated northern Minnesota tribal lands into one congressional district, the panel said.

“This change respects the sovereignty of the American Indian tribes and the request of tribal leaders and Minnesotans across the state to afford those tribes an opportunity to join their voices,” the panel wrote.

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The district’s borders were also expanded south to include the northern portion of Washington County, “an area that shares the Eighth District’s rural character and aligns with its ‘woods and water’ geography and economy,” according to the panel.

Twin Cities metro districts
Minnesota’s Third District, which comprises Minneapolis’ western suburbs, no longer includes any part of Carver County, while Hopkins and a portion of Edina were added by the panel.

The Third District also expanded farther north into Anoka County to ensure “ideal population while respecting political subdivisions and retaining its character as a suburban, Hennepin County-centered district,” the panel wrote.

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The Fourth District, anchored by St. Paul, includes all of Ramsey County and a large portion of suburban central Washington County, which “continues to have strong ties to St. Paul and therefore remains within the Fourth District,” according to the panel.

Minnesota’s Fifth District, based in Minneapolis, lost Hopkins and a portion of Edina to balance its population. The special redistricting panel said it rejected requests to place Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park in the same district as their populations are too large for both to fit.

The Sixth District will continue to wrap around the western and northern metro area to include “expanding suburban and exurban areas and small towns and cities,” according to the panel.

Northern Washington County and additional portions of rural Stearns County were taken out of the Sixth District to respect the district’s “increasingly suburban character,” the panel said.

The Sixth District now includes all of Carver County, while St. Cloud continues to anchor the district’s northwest end.