Political redistricting for EP: Déjà vu all over again

Minnesota’s five-judge panel has released the 2022 redistricting map they have created and approved for congressional, state senate, and state legislative districts.

Representative Mary Murphy, DFL – Hermantown, who chaired an unsuccessful House effort to create a Minnesota Legislature redistricting map, has said that generally, the courts follow the principle of “least change.”

Old Senate District (SD) 48, which covered Eden Prairie and southern Minnetonka, certainly has lived out the idea of least change. Modest redrawing changed SD48 into new SD49, with Congressman Dean Phillips, State Sen. Steve Cwodzinski, State Rep. Laurie Pryor, and State Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn still representing the people of our district. All four officeholders are members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

(Melisa Franzen’s senate district had included the Golden Triangle industrial-commercial area of Eden Prairie. The new 2022 map now includes that one precinct in new SD49 along with all the other Eden Prairie precincts.)

Bill Hoag, chair of the new SD49 GOP, says that at their March 6 Senate District Convention, members will formally vote on officers for the senate district GOP. He says that GOP precinct chairs were already elected at the old SD48 caucus in February.

Since the senate district DFL had a remote caucus, DFL matters are a little more protracted. Rod Fisher, chair of the new SD49 DFL, says that on the night of Feb. 28, the Minnesota DFL approved all districts on the new map. He says that at the April 9 SD49 DFL Convention, all SD49 DFL central committee officers will be approved. Election of SD49 DFL precinct officers will occur somewhat later (again, because there was no in-person SD DFL caucus).

It is still possible that the communities of Eden Prairie and Minnetonka will redraw some precinct boundaries.

Fisher does alert us to one technical point: Cwodzinski, Pryor, and Kotyza-Witthuhn were formally elected in 2020 to represent the area of the old SD48. Until new legislative terms begin in 2023, they will represent the area of the old SD48. Given the modest changes between old 48 and new 49, this technical point should not be the source of too much confusion. 

Given all the complexities that might have been introduced, it is essentially the case that if you were in the old SD48 a few weeks ago, you are likely living in the new SD49 right now.