Redistricting in Minnesota

Here’s how new congressional maps shift voting power in every state

By Janie Boschma, Renée Rigdon, Byron Manley and Ethan Cohen, CNN. Additional reporting and design by Melissa DePalo, Eleanor Stubbs and Christopher Hickey, CNN

Last updated: November 8, 2022

Every 10 years, states redraw the boundaries of their congressional districts to reflect new population counts from the census. The special five-judge panel that drew Minnesota’s new congressional map used the state’s existing map as a starting point and made changes to equalize the population in the districts. The resulting map looks similar to the existing one. Minnesota’s congressional delegation is currently split with four Democrats to four Republicans.

“Simply put, we are not positioned to draw entirely new congressional districts, as the legislature could choose to do,” the panel of judges wrote. Minnesota’s state Senate is controlled by Republicans, while Democrats control the state House and the governorship. The map-drawing process fell to the courts after the political process failed to produce a plan.

How the districts voted in 2020, by presidential vote margin in percentage points

Democratic

30+
15+
5+

Competitive

Within 5

Republican

5+
15+
30+

Old map 8 districts

In the old congressional map, there are 4 Democratic, 0 competitive and 4 Republican districts.

Change

Change in Democratic districts: 0

Change in Competitive districts: 0

Change in Republican districts: 0

New map 8 districts

In the new congressional map, there are 4 Democratic, 0 competitive and 4 Republican districts.

How the new map shifts voting power by demographic

Minnesota’s new map is very similar to the old one. It will continue to have eight House seats, all of which are majority-White districts.

Number of White-majority districts
Old Map
8
New Map
8
A chart showing the number of White-majority districts has remained the same with 8.

The group that represents the majority in each district

White

About the data

Sources: US Census Bureau, Edison Research, each state’s legislature or other redistricting authority, Voting and Election Science Team via Harvard University’s Dataverse

Methodology note: Vote margins for new congressional districts are determined by calculating precinct-level vote totals for each district. If a new district splits a precinct, block-level voting-age population is used to allocate that precinct’s votes to the new districts. Block-level demographic data from the 2020 census is reaggregated into each new district’s boundaries.