Politics & Government

UPDATE: Redistricting Leaves Bulk of Lakeville in Vacant House Seat

Lakeville to stay in Second Congressional District represented by John Kline.

Lakeville's elections just got a bit messier as the town was fractured into three different house and senate districts by a five-member state judicial panel today.

The changes mean Lakeville will have a total of six legislators in the capitol starting next year, and also means the representatives Lakeville residents have voted for in previous years are almost assuredly going to change.

The bulk of Lakeville will now reside in District 58A, which is a vacant house seat with no current representative. (See an interactive map to see exactly which district you're in.)

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State Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-District 36A), who currently represents most of Lakeville, will now only represent the northwestern chunk of town, moving to District 56B, which includes large parts of Burnsville. The Lakeville addresses west of Interstate 35 and south to 185th Street West are in her district, along with a small chunk to the east of Interstate 35, including the Argonne and Crystal Lake neighborhoods.

Finally, a portion of northeast Lakeville's Pilot Knob Road neighborhoods from Flagstaff Avenue and east will be placed into District 57A, currently represented by State Rep. Tara Mack (R-District 37A) of Apple Valley.

Find out what's happening in Lakevillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lakeville's other current representative, State Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-District 36A), of Farmington, will no longer represent Lakeville, as his new district, 58B, slides a bit to the east and south.

The changes also mean those pieces of Lakeville moved into new districts will no longer be represented in the Senate by State Sen. Dave Thompson (R-District 36) of Lakeville. Thompson will now represent District 58, but those parts of Lakeville in District 57 will be represented by State Sen. Chris Gerlach, currently (R-District 37) of Apple Valley, while State Sen. Dan Hall, currently (R-District 40) of Burnsville, will represent the parts of Lakeville in District 56.

Meanwhile, Lakeville remains in the Second Congressional District, represented by John Kline, R-Lakeville, though, the district will change slightly. The district will now include all of Dakota County, including the northern towns which boredered St. Paul and used to be in the Fourth, represented by Democrat Betty McCollum. The Second will also include Wabasha County to the south, and a bit of southern Washington County. Carver and Le Sueur counties, and most of Rice County, will no longer be a part of Kline's district.

WHY REDISTRICT?

Redistricting is a fairly political exercise done every 10 years after the U.S. Census results are released. In this case, the population in Minnesota grew, and it's necessary to redraw congressional and legislative district boundaries to reflect changes in that population.

The reason the process is political is because Democrats and Republicans submit plans for redistricting that generally offer their party an advantage in elections.


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