Southwest Legislators Face Battles Under Redistricting Proposals

Redistricting, that oddly undemocratic way of fixing the boundaries of democratically elected legislators' constituencies has arrived again.

Unsurprisingly, the DFL Governor and the GOP-controlled legislature couldn't agree on how to redraw the state's legislative and congressional districts to take shifting populations and new census data into account. Now, it's up to a five-judge pannel to decide what's the fairest way to divvy up Minnesotans. However, as this ProPublica report makes clear, the process is shaping up to be very political, and it's looking like average voters will have a hard time getting their voices heard.

On Nov. 18, Democratic and Republican representatives submitted maps proposing new maps, and in some cases, the politics are clear: several boundary changes pit legislators against each other, in districts where the winner seems clear. For example: one of two GOP suggestions, the Hippert proposal, would pitt Southwest's DFL Rep. Frank Hornstein against Rep. Marion Greene, forcing a longtime legislator to potentially knock out a high-profile newcomer. On the other hand, the DFL proposal—the Martin map—puts Hornstein and Edina's Rep. Keith Downey against each other in a district that Hornstein could well carry. 

While there are no public comment sessions scheduled following the parties' submissions, a group called Common Cause Minnesota is pushing to have its own, crowd-sourced proposal considdered along side the other maps. Its leader paints those plans as non-partisan.