Rep. Mindy Greiling on how redistricting changes a politician's home turf
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During the first hour of The Daily Circuit, we're talking about redistricting. We wanted to know what the process is like from the perspective of a person running for office.
Mindy Greiling is a DFL state representative from Roseville who already decided that she won't be running for re-election. She's retiring after 20 years in the legislature.
Greiling is a different case because she's already made her decision to retire. Redistricting wasn't the reason she decided to retire, but she said the process really makes lawmakers take hold and weigh all the options.
Greiling's current district includes most of Roseville. It is as rectangular of a district as you're going to find with these maps, but it runs along Highway 36 just north of St. Paul. Her current district also includes the small town of Lauderdale and part of St. Anthony.
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The DFL and GOP have about an equal chance of winning the majority, Greiling said, though we'll know a lot more after the maps are released Tuesday. The GOP is currently in the majority.
When the maps come out, politicians huddle around computer monitors and print-outs to see how the new lines change their districts.
Right now, we do know what some of the maps looked like that were proposed by the political parties. The GOP actually drew a district that largely resembles Greiling's current district.
Greiling said she thinks the courts will devise a map that's completely different from any of the maps submitted.
Greiling on the GOP map:
"The GOP map's a great map for me. When I saw that map, if I were only thinking of me, I'd think 'Heck, I'd certainly run in that district.' But then I looked at the statewide map and realized they're packing in the DFL districts; sentenced us to perpetual minorityhood. Sixty-two districts is really all we could hope to achieve, and that didn't look promising to me."
"I'm one of the packed districts that the GOP awarded to my area - I could be there for life and no sweat."
On the DFL map, which includes Shoreview and northern Roseville:
"To me, that looks like a district for a legislator from Shoreview, and I'm from Roseville. And so when I looked at that map, I thought, 'If that were the map, I don't belong there and I wouldn't have run in that district.'"
"Shoreview's an outer-ring suburb, and I like to represent an inner-ring suburb. That fits me."
