Wattson Plaintiffs Release Proposed Minnesota Congressional District Plan

FOR INFORMATION:
Peter S. Wattson
(952) 457-6328
peterwattson@gmail.com

The lead plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the current congressional and legislative districts have proposed a new plan for Minnesota’s eight congressional districts. The plan uses the new population data derived from the 2020 census. After receiving public comments on it, the Wattson plaintiffs will submit the plan for consideration by the Special Redistricting Panel appointed earlier this year by Chief Justice Lorie Gildea. The Panel is empowered to create new congressional and legislative district boundaries if the Legislature and the Governor have not completed their redistricting duties by the statutory deadline of February 15, 2022.

“By making relatively small changes to the current plan, we demonstrate to the Panel a method for correcting the population imbalances resulting from the 2020 census while preserving the basic configuration of district boundaries familiar to the voters for the past ten years,” said Peter S. Wattson, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. “We also believe that this proposal can – and should – be used by the Legislature to remedy the defects in the current plan resulting from 10 years of population changes in Minnesota,” Wattson said.

“This proposed plan preserves several important communities of interest in the state, including the rapidly growing I-94 corridor stretching northwest from Elk River and encompassing the St. Cloud urbanized area,” said Nick Harper, speaking for the League of Women Voters of Minnesota, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit. “We also propose that the reservations of all seven Ojibwe bands be located in a single congressional district in northern Minnesota. We believe this is the first time a plaintiff in Minnesota’s redistricting litigation has done so,” Harper said.

The plaintiffs’ plan also proposes to preserve two discrete minority-opportunity districts in the metropolitan area, one centered on Minneapolis and the urban core of Hennepin County and a second East Metro congressional district that includes Saint Paul and its northern and eastern suburbs. In both proposed districts, more than 30% of the total voting-age population is voters protected under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it more likely that those voters will be able to select members of Congress that reflect their views and concerns.

No incumbent member of Congress is paired with another member in the proposed congressional plan.

The proposed plan includes five districts covering the highly urbanized portions of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, with the remaining three districts allocated to Greater Minnesota. The five proposed metro area districts all cover less territory than the current districts, reflecting the population growth that has occurred since 2010. And both proposed districts 7 and 8 have grown geographically larger, given the need to add population in rural areas of the state whose populations have grown more slowly than the rest of the state since the previous census.

The proposed district 1 is largely unchanged, covering southern Minnesota and including Rochester and Mankato. The proposed district 7 is primarily agricultural while the proposed district 8 comprises the principal mining, forest products and tourism industries of the state.

Two slightly smaller metro area districts complete the proposed plan. Proposed district 2 covers the southern suburbs and territory along the Mississippi River from Hastings to Wabasha. The proposed district 3 is centered on suburban Hennepin County along with the cities of Anoka and Coon Rapids in Anoka County.

Maps of the proposed congressional districts can be viewed on the League of Women Voters website (see button below). Members of the public are strongly encouraged to submit comments at that webpage on the proposed plan.

The new congressional district boundaries adopted by the Special Redistricting Panel will be used for the 2022 state primary on August 9.