Maybe Dickinson instead of Emerson? Massachusetts will probably demand a minority and I can’t think of a candidate better than Russell (MLK attended school here but no way we can claim MLK); Russell is the most decorated athlete in team sports. Frederick Douglas lived in New Bedford for a while so he’s a possibility.
Tennessee-- Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Elvis.
I wins da Interwebs.
What was the tip-off? Ethan Allen or B&J?
love this answer.
New York State. Well, which Roosevelt? Teddy means we only have to commission three sculptures, but he rode all those horses out west. On the other hand, Franklin used to drive a car, and that’s even more of a deal-breaker. Let’s compromise and take Eleanor.
From literature, Washington Irving. Early, important, and NY-identified.
Music: Richard Rodgers (granted, he stood on the shoulders of a dwarf).
Visual arts: Sorry, conflict of interest.
Other stuff: Lou Gehrig. Gets the nod over other athletes because he was born, lived, and died. Now we just to find an iron mountain.
Indiana:
John Dillinger
Charles Manson
“Rev.” Jim Jones (Jonestown)
Why, yes, I did leave.
You certainly may, he’s another one I wasn’t aware of…and I guess it depends on which form of artistic expression you’re partial to 
Might throw Scott Joplin in there as well…wasn’t born and didn’t die here, but spent quite a bit of middle life.
Hmm, nobody’s done Mississippi yet:
Medgar Evers
William Faulkner
Elvis Presley
… and, as much as I kind of hate this one, Oprah Winfrey
I always thought of Cronkite as a Texan. He moved to Houston as a kid, went to the University of Texas, narrated the great series of UT commercials (What Starts Here Changes the World), and donated his work papers to the Dolph Briscoe Center in Austin.
Add Michael Jackson and you’ve got a fine foursome there.
Illinois:
Abraham Lincoln
Bill Murray
Jane Addams
Vachel Lindsay
And in the born-here-but-didn’t-do-much-while-here category:
Walt Disney
Ronald Reagan
Here’s my shot for Texas. I’m trying to get diversified list.
Sam Houston - Should be a unanimous selection. He gets my vote as the statesman/politician on the list. Others considered are Stephen F. Austin, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis, Bob Bullock, Sam Rayburn, and many others.
Nolan Ryan - He’s my vote as athlete over Tom Landry, Earl Campbell, Babe Didrikson, Ben Hogan, and Roger Staubach.
Willie Nelson - He’s my top entertainer over Bob Wills, Buddy Holly, Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and George Strait.
H.L. Hunt - He’s my top businessman over Howard Hughes, Ross Perot, George Mitchell, Sid Richardson, and many others.
Teddy is already on the REAL Mount Rushmore, so it’s only fair FDR gets the New York mountain.
I would replace Davy Crockett. He really didn’t have much of an impact on Texas history.
Replace him with Santa Anna. Texas would not even exist as a state without him.
No Garrison Keillor?
There’ve been several suggestions for Oregon above, but they all missed the most famous Oregonian of them all. In fact, may I suggest:
Tonya Harding, Tonya Harding, Tonya Harding, and Tonya Harding
PS although we may want to fit Jeff Gillooly in there somewhere…
Oh hell no, not John Brown. He was a terrorist, and I wouldn’t want him. I don’t give a hoot about that famous painting of him in the statehouse.