ST. PAUL, Minn. – The panel of state judges that has reconfigured Minnesota’s congressional districts explained its thinking on the states southern MN-1 this way:
“Some cities in the first district grew substantially, and Rochester remains the district’s population center and the state’s third largest city. But this primarily rural district grew at a rate slower than the state as a whole, requiring the addition of 22,586 people to meet the ideal district population. As the panel heard consistently from the public, there are two natural additions—Wabasha and Goodhue counties. Both have significant ties to Rochester and are predominantly rural. They border the Mississippi River and are part of the karst geological region, along with other counties in the First District. And both Wabasha and Goodhue Counties have been part of the first district in the past. By adding Wabasha and Goodhue Counties, all of the populated tribal lands of the Prairie Island Indian Community now lie within the First District. The Minnesota reservation lands of the Ho-Chunk Nation remain in the First District.”