Cornish will not represent county
The newly released redistricting map of Minnesota’s legislative districts revealed one surprising point for area residents.
Tony Cornish will no longer be a state legislator for any part of Faribault County.
Cornish has been the state representative for residents in the eastern two-thirds of Faribault County as part of his District 24B area.
That district included most of Blue Earth County and parts of Watonwan and Waseca counties, as well as the area of Faribault County.
Now, state Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, will take over a larger portion of the county but not all of it.
Gunther already was the representative for the western third of the county, including the cities of Blue Earth and Winnebago.
But, the far eastern portion of the county, including the areas around Wells, Kiester and Walters, will be moving into the district that includes Freeborn County.
Cornish states that he is going to miss Faribault County very much.
“I’ll especially miss the small homey farm towns, (in particular, Delavan) the steak frys and the legions and VFWs” he says. “I got to know people for 10 years now and it’ll be hard to let that go.
“I’ll probably have to come back and bug them at times,” he said. “The parades that are still close to my borders will still have to be walked with diligence.”
Meanwhile, Gunther is not only gaining territory in Faribault County, but in Jackson County as well.
Gunther and state Sen. Julie Rosen were in districts that ended at the Martin-Jackson county line. Now their districts have expanded into half of Jackson County for the first time.
“The majority of my current legislative district will remain the same,” Gunther says. “But, I am losing some of my cities and picking up a few new ones. I’m very excited about meeting and representing my new constituents.”
The two Republican legislators will also have to learn to call their districts by new numbers.
Currently Rosen is state senator in District 24, while Gunther is the representative for half that area, called District 24A.
Now the new districts will be Senate District 23 and Representative District 23A.
Congressional district lines were also redrawn as part of the plan that is completed every 10 years after the census figures are released.
Redrawing the district lines statewide was done by a panel of judges and was released to the public Tuesday. They will take effect at the next election and at then on Jan. 1, 2013.
The lines are drawn to make each district equal in population.