Austin’s state Senate district may undergo some changes if a redrawn legislative map passes through the House and Senate.

The House Redistricting Committee approved the plan last Tuesday on a party-line vote of 7-5, with Democrats quick to note that members of their party face greater political consequences than Republicans under the first proposal released to set Minnesota’s political map for the next decade.

The proposal would result in 20 incumbent House members and six incumbent senators paired up into districts with another incumbent.

Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, serves on the Redistricting Committee and said the Austin area will stay mostly the same under the new plan, with the exception of Democratic Sen. Dan Spark’s district — Senate District 27.

On the new map, District 27 would no longer cover Albert Lea or any area of Freeborn County. Instead, it would expand east to cover all of Mower County, Fillmore County and Houston County.

Poppe said the change was made to separate Austin and Albert Lea because legislators typically aim for a population of at least 39,000 in each district. Separating the two larger cities and adding smaller towns to both districts accomplished that goal.

Although Poppe’s district was hardly touched, she would like to see a map drawn not only by Republican lawmakers, but by the entire committee.

“My hope would have been, and still is, to have a committee plan that could be more fair and balanced as far as having input from Democrats on the committee,” she said. “We’d have a plan that would actually be signed by the governor.”

A spokeswoman for Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday that he would only sign a legislative plan that receives votes from members of both parties. With Democratic lawmakers crying foul, a Dayton veto of the GOP plan is likely, which would land the entire redistricting battle in court.

Although a court battle would not be ideal, Poppe said it’s looking more likely than getting Dayton’s support at this point.

“Unfortunately it seems as though it might land in court,” Poppe said.

“I suspect that there’s going to be some pairings (of same-party incumbents) in the final map. I think the biggest thing is: how does it make the most sense to redistrict?” she added.

Redistricting follows the once-a-decade U.S. census and has major consequences for the prospects of both parties. Political boundaries are reconfigured to put roughly the same number of Minnesotans in each of the 134 House districts and 67 Senate districts.

More Democratic lawmakers are paired up than Republicans under the GOP proposal. Republicans said that’s because the population grew more in areas they represent.

“The population growth isn’t there in the areas held by Democrats,” said Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, who assembled the proposal. Anderson said the proposal was guided by a goal of keeping cities, counties and areas of common interest confined to one district whenever possible.

But some Democrats saw politics at work.

“This map is blatantly partisan,” said Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, who under the GOP proposal would find himself living in the same district as a fellow St. Paul Democrat, Rep. Alice Hausman. “In terms of pairing people together, that’s just a little ‘gotcha.’”

About 30 people testified in Tuesday night’s House hearing, raising dozens of questions and complaints about specific details in the GOP plan. Testifiers raised concerns over new lines of division potentially splitting cities, towns, urban neighborhoods and minority and other interest groups. There were also complaints about the short time frame to digest the Republican proposal, which was made public about 24 hours prior to the hearing.

Of the 20 House members who would be in the same district, 10 are Democrats paired with a fellow Democrat. Another three Democrats wind up sharing districts with Republicans, and in a single case, two Republicans end up in the same district.

Although the May 23 session deadline is drawing near, Poppe thinks there is still time to come up with a bipartisan map that would gain Dayton’s support.

“This is one area where I think we still have time to come together and come up with a plan that would get bipartisan support,” she said. “The process has been what’s of concern.”

—The Associated Press contributed to this report