Minnesota is losing congressional seat battle

In the latest development in the ongoing saga to see if Minnesota will lose one of its eight congressional seats, State Demographer Tom Gillaspy said this morning Minnesota is projected to lose a seat by a razor-thin margin.

Based on Gillaspy’s new reapportionment forecast, Missouri will get the last of 435 seats apportioned after the 2010 Census is completed. Minnesota’s population is short by about 1,100 people behind the Show Me State. The Gopher State’s population deficit is so close its within the potential estimating error, Gillaspy said.

“Basically, this is a dead heat,” Gillaspy said.

The difference is less than one month’s usual population change in Minnesota, Gillaspy said.

Gillaspy’s Congressional reapportionment forecast is based on new U.S. Census population numbers.

Minnesota had 5,266,214 as of July 2009, according to the Census. The state’s population increased 35,647, or 0.68 percent, from 2008. Gillaspy said the increase was “a remarkable turnaround” from the state’s population declines recorded earlier in the decade.

Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio are expected to lose seats. States mostly in the South and South West such as Florida and Arizona are expected to gain seats.