Report: Minn. likely to hold on to all 8 U.S. House seats

A new study based on projected Census population figures shows Minnesota will likely keep all eight of its current U.S. House seats.

The 435 U.S. House seats are divided between states based on population. Last year, estimates projected Minnesota to lose a congressional seat, but Kimball Brace, president of Virginia-based Election Data Services, Inc., said the new estimates show Missouri will instead likely lose the seat.

Brace said that's a fortunate finding for Minnesota.

"It becomes more difficult to have the kind of issues that you think are important brought up by congress and passed in terms of legislative initiatives [if you have fewer members of congress]," Brace said.

Brace cautions that we won't know for sure if Minnesota will keep all its seats until final Census numbers come out in late December.

"The addition of the military overseas could have an impact," he said. "Particularly in your state where there's not a lot of military overseas from Minnesota."