Census to announce today if Minnesota loses Congress seat

Briana Bierschbach, Star Tribune
·2 min read

The U.S. Census Bureau is set to release population counts on Monday that will determine whether Minnesota will keep all eight of its seats in Congress.

Minnesota, which has grown more slowly than many other states, has been on the edge of losing one of its seats in the U.S. House for decades. The last time Minnesota lost representation in Congress was after the 1960 population count.

The numbers will be released at a 2 p.m. news conference.

Preliminary estimates released by the Census Bureau in December found the state was 25,554 people short of holding on to all of its seats, coming in behind New York but ahead of Ohio, California and Virginia.

The process, known as apportionment, follows the once-a-decade nationwide population count conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The numbers help apportion all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives based on state populations.

The final numbers were supposed to be released by the end of December, but the data were delayed after the 2020 Census count was plagued with budget constraints, technical difficulties and logistical struggles amid the pandemic.

While Minnesota's population is growing more slowly than some other states, it led the nation with a 75% self-response rate to the census. State redistricting experts say that could give Minnesota an edge over other states with a lower response rate.

Losing a seat would trigger a complex realignment of the state's political districts, requiring the seven that remain to grow by roughly 100,000 people. It could put some members of Congress in the same district and scramble the political dynamics in others.

The Minnesota Legislature is tasked with redrawing the political boundaries for seats in Congress and the statehouse, but disagreements and divided government have kicked that process to the courts for decades.

That's likely to happen again this cycle, with Minnesota's Legislature divided between Republicans and Democrats.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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