UPDATED: Northfield Loses Woodard, DeKruif With New Legislative Districts

Based on a court-panel redistricting map released Tuesday afternoon, Northfield's political neighbors will be different for the next 10 years.

Its representatives will be different next year, too.

Under the plan, Sen. Al DeKruif and Rep. Kelby Woodard, both Republicans, would represent different districts.

Northfield, now part of Senate District 25 and House District 25B, will shift to Senate District 20 and House District 20B under the plan. (Click here for interactive map.)

While Woodard, who lives in Belle Plaine, would remain in the same Senate District as Northfield if re-elected, he would represent House District 20A, which woud represent parts of Le Sueur and Scott counties. DeKruif, if re-elected, would be in Senate District 23.

District 20 includes about half of Rice County, including Bridgewater Township, Dennison, Dundas, Erin Township, Forest Township, Lonsdale, Northfield, Northfield Township, Shieldsville Township, Webster Township and Wheatland Township. It would also include part of Le Sueur County, including New Prague, Le Center and Le Sueur; and Scott County, including Belle Plaine and Elko New Market.

District 20B would include the aforementioned Rice County areas, as well as Le Sueur County's Cordova Township, Heidelberg, Kilkenny, Kilkenny Township, Lanesburgh Township, Montgomery, Montgomery Township.

Northfield’s most northerly precinct is currently in House District 36B and would be in Senate District 58 and House District 58B under the new plan. That precinct is represented by Sen. Dave Thompson and Rep. Pat Garofalo, both Republicans. The two would remain that precinct's legislators if they seek re-election.

Redistricting comes every 10 years after the U.S. Census. The law requires all districts to be similar in population.

Shaking out the 2012 elections

With Woodard, who has already said he plans to seek re-election, not part of Northfield's new district, it would open the door for a new representatives.

Former state representative David Bly, a DFLer who was narrowly defeated by Woodard in the 2010 election, has already announced he will seek election for the Minnesota House of Representatives. Northfield City Councilor Patrick Ganey, in his first term on the council, has also announce his intention to run for the House as a DFLer.

Bly is confident he can regain a seat in the Minnesota Legislature.

“The good thing is I already know a lot of the folks,” he said of voters. “There’s some new area in Le Sueur, but I know a quite a few of those folks."

With at least one other DFL contender, Bly doesn't want to take anything for granted, but believes his experience as a legislator gives him an upper hand with delegates. 

Ganey said on Tuesday that he believes that District 20B has a good balance between Northfield and rural communties to the west.

"I look forward to talking with DFL delegates in the coming weeks and making the case for endorsing a new, pragmatic, and collaborative voice who can win in November and represent this community in the Minnesota Legislature," he wrote in an email to Northfield Patch.

With DeKruif gone, it opens the door for former DFL state senator, Kevin Dahle, who has announced he plans to see office again. He lost to DeKruif in 2010.

In both cases, however, new challegers will rise from the Republican Party, which will make campaign season all the more important as the group of candidates get their messages out to a new body of voters.

Congressional district

Through the boundaries will change with the plan released Tuesday, Northfield would stay in the Second Congressional District. Congressman John Kline, a Republican, lives in Lakeville and would continue to serve Northfield if re-elected.

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