Les Jones

Population > Minnesota May Lose Electoral Vote, Congressional Seat

Minnesota may lose one electoral vote and one Congressional seat in the 2010 census. From the Duluth News Tribune.

"As the Baby Boomers get older, they're going where it's warmer," said Dean Barkley, a political independent who was Gov. Jesse Ventura's planning director after the 2000 census and then briefly a U.S. senator. "It's not a matter of if (Minnesota loses a seat in Congress), it's a matter of when. It would be nice to dodge the bullet one more time, but eventually we're going to lose a seat in Congress."

Minnesota was the only Great Lakes state that didn't lose a seat after the 2000 census. It has had eight House seats since 1960, when it dropped from nine. While Polidata puts the state's population growth at 7.9 percent over the next five years -- higher than any of its Upper Midwest neighbors -- it is still below the national growth rate of 11.2 percent.