It's a once-a-decade count that has the power to make a lot of changes. The census will be used to reapportion the 435 house seats among the 50 states based on population.
This triggers a high-stakes process because the dominant party in each state redraws the election map to shape the political landscape for the next 10 years.
Based on the newest census report, Minnesota will keep all eight of its U.S. House seats. Demographers believed that Minnesota was on the edge of losing a seat.
"Minnesota has for some decades now maintained having eight U.S. House districts," Minnesota State Mankato Political Science Professor Fred Slocum said. "In fact that number has been unchanged since 1960."
There were projections that Minnesota might lose a seat because surrounding states, especially in the east, have lost seats due to results of past census reports.
"Minnesota has dodged a bullet, so to speak, in terms of not losing seats," Slocum said. "Meanwhile, surrounding states have. Iowa lost a seat after 1990 census, and lost another one after the 2010 census."
Minnesota's population is up 7.4 percent over the 4.9 million Minnesotans counted 10 years ago. Census figures also affect federal dollars the state receives. State officials were hoping the state wouldn't lose out the $400 billion allocated by the federal government each year based on census figures.
"Minnesota would probably be in line to lose some federal funding that it otherwise would retain if it were to lose a house seat," Slocum added.
The speculation on the national level was that the U.S won't see a decrease in overall population, but may experience slower growth overall.
"I don't think the U.S. is at risk from experiencing that at this point, but we may experience a period of slower growth, and part of that is because of the rescession that began in 2008," Slocum said.
But overall, losing a seat means losing influence in Congress, especially the House of Representatives. No state wants to lose clout or influence in deciding the presidential election, and both of those would have happened had Minnesota lost one.
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