New Legislative and Congressional District Maps will Create Changes for Many Lakes Area Voters

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – Legislators are still analyzing the impact on this fall’s elections after courts issued new legislative and congressional district maps for Minnesota, Tuesday.

A five-judge panel favored a plan that made the least changes necessary to accommodate the population shifts that took place during the past decade. Redistricting is required once every 10 years to redistribute the state’s population as equally as possible between the eight districts and the 201 seats that make up the state Legislature.

Still, some Lakes Area residents will find themselves in new districts, with different representation in Congress and the Legislature under the redrawn maps.

Parts of Northern Becker County including the White Earth Indian Reservation have been moved from Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District, represented by Michelle Fischbach to Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District which is represented by Pete Stauber from Duluth.

Terry Kalil, who retired as the Detroit Lakes Area League of Women Voters President this fall says that could create some challenges for Becker County as a whole, “Let’s say there’s an issue that effects all of Becker County and you’re a county commissioner, now you’ve got to talk to two different congressional staffs, you’ve got to explain Becker County’s position, its doubled the work in terms of advocacy at a Congressional level.”

The Legislative Districts are a bit more messy in the Lakes Area, in the Senate, most of Becker County had been in District 2 represented by Senator Paul Utke from Park Rapids, while Detroit Lakes and the Southwest corner of Becker County are in District 4 represented by Senator Kent Eken. In the new maps, the West half of Becker County including Detroit Lakes will be in District 4, the Eastern half of Becker County will be placed in District 5 represented by Senator Justin Eichorn of Grand Rapids and only the White Earth Indian Reservation will remain in District 2.

The House Districts will be similarly divided, with the Western half of Becker County in District 4B which has been represented by Paul Marquart, the Eastern half of Becker County in District 5A represented by Matt Bliss and the White Earth Indian Reservation in District 2B represented by Steve Green.

For the Becker County Board of Commissioners, it appears only District 2 represented by Commissioner Ben Grimsley of Detroit Lakes will be required to be on the ballot in November due to population changes. Grimsley’s district which includes wards 2 and 3 saw a population change of greater than 5% requiring his seat to be on the ballot, however his seat was already set to expire anyway.

“The new lines will be Highway 10 North and South will split off Wards 1 from Wards 2 and 3 and Washington Avenue, down to Longbridge will be split off Ward 3 & 2. This is favorable to the County because I’m the only person with a greater than 5% threshold change and I’m on the ballot anyway – so pretty nice how that worked out,” said Grimsley.

Likewise, the seat for District 1 represented by Commissioner Larry Knutson will be on the ballot this fall as his 4-year term is set to expire.

East Grand Forks Senator Mark Johnson, chair of the State’s Redistricting Committee, says everyone is still studying the new maps and Johnson won’t comment whether there will be any legal challenges to them, but he does say, “The nice thing that you see with a least-change map is that constituents who have finally gotten used to what their district boundaries are, aren’t all of sudden now thrown into an entirely-different-numbered district. We try to keep that to a minimum, and I think the court did a fairly good job of that.”

The Detroit Lakes Area League of Women Voters plans to host County Commissioner Ben Grimsley to speak on the new maps at the Detroit Lakes Public Library on March 15 to help Lakes Area residents understand the local impact of the changes.

2022 State Congressional & Legislative Maps