Bachmann Pledges to Run in Sixth, Despite New District Boundaries

Though she's vowing to fight another day to serve the Sixth District, the district "she grew up in," Rep. Michele Bachmann's hometown has been drawn out of the current Congressional District that is home to St. Michael and Albertville.

Under new maps released by a judicial panel placed in charge of redistricting, Bachmann now resides in Minnesota Congressional District 4, which includes much of the eastern Metro area and St. Paul. That combines with the old District 4, which Rep. McCollum, a Democrat, has represented since she was the first elected to it in 2000. 

Bachmann said in an interview with Associated Press and Minnesota Public Radio that she intends to fight for her current seat.

"I'm announcing today that I will be running in the 6th Congressional district," Bachmann told the Star Tribune. "I'll continue my service to the people in the district where I essentially went to junior high, high school, college, had my babies born and we built our business and we have our church and our family."

Congressional rerepsentatives do not have to live in their district, which means she wouldn't have to move from her and husband Dr. Marcus Bachmann's home near Stillwater to somehwere in the newly drawn District 6.

However, that's not a given. Bachmann will have to appeal to delegates in the newly formed district and earn a nomination to run for the seat in the 2012 election. She would not be technically considered an incumbent, since it is a new district for several communities on the west side of the metro.

The new District 6 increases its representation to the west and south, including many old areas from Bachmann's current district but adding areas such as Chanhassen. An entire map of the new Congressional Districts in the metro area can be found on the Minnesota Courts Website.