State Sen. Geoff Michel and state Republican party chair Ron Carey took the mic after a Madia press conference.

Is the Republican Party of Minnesota unaware of current demographics in the West Metro congressional district it has held for 50 years? U.S. Census data suggests that the suburban-identity politics that Republicans advanced last week writes off a third or more of the 3rd District’s residents.

Republican officials claim the 3rd District’s demographic makeup makes their candidate — state Rep. Erik Paulsen, a married-with-children homeowner — better suited to replace retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad than DFLer Ashwin Madia, a single, childless renter.

Yet an examination of the latest demographics from the U.S. Census — released on Sept. 23, a week before the Republicans launched their demographic attacks — shows that the Republican concept of the suburban norm leaves out a significant minority of the 3rd District’s population.

Here’s what the U.S. Census says about how many people own a home or pay a mortgage in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District:

Total households: 252,410
Renter occupied: 23 percent (56,999 households)
Owner occupied: 77 percent (195,411)

Of owner-occupied housing units, those with a mortgage: 78 percent (151,571)
Of owner-occupied housing units, those without a mortgage: 22 percent (43,840)

Of total households, renters and owners without a mortgage, combined: 40 percent (100,839)

And here’s what the U.S. Census says about how many people in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District are raising children:

Family households: 70.5 percent (177,994)
Nonfamily households: 29.5 percent (74,416)

Married-couple family with own children under 18 years old: 26.8 percent (67,588)

Now married (except separated): 60.1 percent (152,151)
Never married: 30.5 percent (77,318)
Separated/Widowed/Divorced: 9.3 percent (23,745)

After Republicans made their demographics case last week — particularly state party chair Ron Carey’s statement that 3rd District voters should like Paulsen best because he’s “one of them” — reporters pressed questions about a racial or ethnic undercurrent to the argument. The topic is too hot to touch — Madia, the son of immigrants from India, said he didn’t hear it, while Paulsen’s allies denied it — but for what it’s worth, the candidates’ racial backgrounds are shared across the 3rd District’s population to starkly different extents, as reflected in U.S. Census figures:

Total population (one race and more than one race): 664,769
White: 83 percent (553,342)
Asian Indian: 1.3 percent (8,350)