How will the Congressional boundaries change?

Every 10 years, Minnesota's Congressional boundaries have to be redrawn so there's equal population in each Congressional district. And as I reported this morning, Minnesota's delegation is keeping a close eye on how the process plays out in St. Paul.

The U.S. Census Bureau has not released the population estimates for each district but you can see which districts will need to grow and which districts will shrink by looking at past population estimates. Each Congressional district has to have 662,990 people in it. If you look at the 2009 population estimates, you'll get a good sense of the makeup of each district. DFL Rep. Collin Peterson has to pick up the most population followed by DFL Rep. Keith Ellison. GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann has to lose the most. Followed by GOP Rep. John Kline.

(Here's a cool map that shows the info based on the 2009 population estimates)

Here's how the districts line up when you look at 2009 population estimates and how much population it will have to gain/lose to get to the magic number:

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1st Congressional District (DFL Rep. Tim Walz)

2009 estimate: 635,429 (-27,561)

2nd Congressional District (GOP Rep. John Kline)

2009 estimate: 737,324 (+74,334)

3rd Congressional District (GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen)

2009 estimate: 664,528 (+1,538)

4th Congressional District (DFL Rep. Betty McCollum)

2009 estimate: 623,879 (-39,111)

5th Congressional District (DFL Rep. Keith Ellison)

2009 estimate: 618,292 (-44,698)

6th Congressional District (GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann)

2009 estimate: 755,489 (+92,499)

7th Congressional District (DFL Rep. Collin Peterson)

2009 estimate: 615,742 Peterson (-47,248)

8th Congressional District (GOP Rep. Chip Cravaack)

2009 estimate: 649,438 (-13,552)