The Missouri House has advanced a proposal to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts at the behest of President Donald Trump.
But because not enough Republicans voted to transform Congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district into a GOP-leaning seat, opponents of the move may have a short window to prevent the new map from ever going into effect – thanks to a rarely used mechanism to place newly passed laws up for a statewide vote.
The House voted 89-63 Monday night to adopt Rep. Dirk Deaton’s legislation, which would link a portion of Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district to a number of largely rural counties. It would also place other parts of the state’s largest city into the districts of Reps. Mark Alford and Sam Graves, put all of St. Charles County into Rep. Bob Onder’s 3rd District and add part of Jefferson County and all of Washington, Gasconade and Crawford counties to Rep. Ann Wagner’s 2nd District.
It’s a big reversal from just three years ago, when the GOP supermajority soundly rejected a 7-1 map to replace the current six Republican districts and two Democratic ones. Republicans in 2022 worried that splitting Democratic voters among Cleaver, Alford and Graves would make all the seats competitive – especially in a bad election year for the GOP.
But Trump has been prodding GOP-leaning states like Texas, Missouri, Indiana and Florida to overhaul their districts this year. The president’s party often does poorly in midterm elections, and some Missouri Republicans made no secret that they want to go after Cleaver to prevent Democrats from retaking the House next year.
“My constituents have said it loud and clear that they fear for their children’s future because of the insane policies of the left, and that is the real reason we’re here,” Rep. Justin Sparks, R-Wildwood, said. “This is our job to protect the next generation from insanity, and I fully intend to do so.”
Deaton, though, didn’t mention Trump or Cleaver when presenting his bill. Instead, he said the new map was more compact and more sensible than the one approved in 2022.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
“All you have to do is put these maps side by side,” Deaton said. “Take it to any 10th grade government class. Say which one’s more compact. You don’t have to have the statistics. You don’t have to have the compactness report and the algorithms which we have that show this map, this Missouri First map, is more compact by the objective standards.”
Deaton and other Republicans argued that the plan actually makes the districts more competitive, especially if Democrats are able to run strong candidates. Even though the new 5th District would lean Republican, it may not be safe enough for the GOP to capture in a Democratic wave election.
“I’ll be voting for the map that’s more competitive, because that is fairer for Missourians,” said Rep. Ben Keathley, R-Chesterfield.
Other backers of Deaton’s map cited Democratic-led states like Illinois that have habitually created congressional maps slanted against Republicans. Illinois Democrats drew their map shortly after the completion of the 2020 census and not at the behest of a president in the middle of a decade.
With California voters deciding soon whether to adopt a map that could elect more Democrats, and Illinois and Maryland considering following suit, Missouri Republicans contend that lawmakers can’t just stand on the sidelines.
“We should have done it in 2022, and we have a chance to do it now,” said Rep. John Simmons, R-Washington.
And at least one lawmaker said it was naive to think that politics don’t play a role in how congressional lines are drawn.
“And I don’t mean to upset anybody, but politics is often political,” said Rep. Darin Chappell, R-Rogersville. “And there’s never been a district line drawn by either party in any state in the history of our union that was not politically drawn.”
Democrats push back
Missouri Democrats didn’t hold back on their GOP colleagues, saying they were bending to Trump’s will by pursuing what they say is an illegal redistricting gambit.
“It is ethically and morally wrong to bow to a dictator when colleagues admit that their votes change because of a phone call from a president,” said Rep. Kem Smith, D-St. Louis County. “We’re not serving Missouri. We’re serving one man, and that is not a democracy. That’s submission.”
Democratic critics contend the Missouri Constitution does not authorize mid-decade redistricting, and they questioned how Republicans could craft districts with roughly equal populations based on five-year-old census data.
“Representation should be based on facts, not political convenience,” said Rep. Jo Doll, D-Webster Groves.
Added Rep. Wick Thomas, D-Kansas City, “Missourians do not respect cheaters.”
Some Black lawmakers also lambasted Republicans for going after Cleaver, who was the first Black mayor of Kansas City, and adding a slew of largely white inner-ring suburbs to Congressman Wesley Bell’s 1st District. Those two moves, they say, shows how little Republicans want Black Missourians to hold tangible political power.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public Radio
“It makes no sense to continue to segregate and discriminate and promote this type of separation within my community,” said Rep. Melissa Douglas, D-Kansas City. “I won’t stand for it. I have the fire in my belly because this is not right.”
More than anything, Democrats contended that Republicans who weren’t enthused about targeting Cleaver showcased a void of conviction – and a subservience to Trump. Rep. Adrian Plank, D-Columbia, added that the real reason Trump doesn’t want Democrats to take over Congress is that he doesn’t want the House to investigate his administration.
“We have a president who has done some very, very, very, very bad stuff,” Plank said. “Redistricting is designed for him to protect himself from getting those investigations up against him.”
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Lack of emergency clause could have major implications
While the initial passage of the revamped map was never in doubt in the House, the vote count there could give opponents a chance to prevent it from taking effect.
The Missouri Constitution allows for a referendum. If opponents of the new congressional lines can get a little over 100,000 signatures in six out of eight congressional districts within 90 days, Deaton’s bill can’t go into effect until after there’s a statewide vote on the proposal.
Bills that have what’s known as an emergency clause that go into effect upon the governor’s signature can’t be placed up for a referendum. But emergency clauses require 109 votes in the House, and Deaton’s bill received 89 votes. And because Republicans only have 107 members and no Democrats are expected to vote for the new map on final passage, the referendum route is one possible pathway to keep Cleaver’s district safe going into the 2026 election cycle.
Even if Republicans had a full contingent of members, it’s doubtful that the measure would have received 109 votes – especially since GOP lawmakers like Rep. Tony Harbison, R-Arcadia, are not for the redistricting plan. House Speaker Jon Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, also voted against Deaton’s plan.
“The needs are heavy. The list is long,” Harbison said. “Our plate is full of things that we need to be doing for the people of this state, and this ain’t one of them.”
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, said it was unlikely that Trump’s staff knew that a referendum was a possibility when pushing Missouri lawmakers to engage in mid-decade redistricting.
“I don’t think that the White House or the federal government knew or cared what was going on in Missouri,” Aune said. “I don’t think that they care that they’re putting rank-and-file Republican lawmakers in Missouri in the worst possible position. What they are doing is blindly asking Missouri to fall in line with what the president wants.”
The House will need to vote one more time to send the measure to the Senate. The special session is slated to continue through the end of the week.
