The latest results of the decennial national census show that Minnesota has finally won its battle with New York; the last of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives was allocated to Minnesota by a narrow margin; the census count between the two states is the closest in modern U.S. history.
The unexpected victory was met with jubilation among Minnesota elected officials, who celebrated the retention of eight seats in the House of Representatives; according to demographer Kimball Brace, Minnesota narrowly defeated New York by a margin of 26 state residents. New York, which had hoped to retain 27 seats in the House of Representatives, ended up with 89 fewer state residents, and its hopes were dashed.
The distribution of seats in the House of Representatives among the states, and which state wins the last seat, has always been a small difference between winners and losers, but there has never been a situation where a double-digit difference determines the winner.
According to media reports, before the census results were released, observers originally assessed that Minnesota’s House seat might shrink by one seat if the trend of the last census was observed; the census results showed that Minnesota’s population has grown faster than the national average in the past decade.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, tweeted, “This is big news. Very proud of you, Minnesota.”
Minnesota also spent $2 million on the Complete Count campaign to get the census fully implemented, which resulted in enough residents to keep the congressional seat and billions in federal funding that is deeply tied to the state’s population.
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