The Republican-controlled Missouri legislature began redrawing its congressional map Thursday to target one Democratic-held seat in the US House, responding to demands by President Donald Trump and his allies to help the GOP eke out more seats in next year’s midterm elections.
Lawmakers in the Missouri House are holding committee hearings and initial votes on the map this week, with the full House expected to take up the legislation early next week. Republicans hold a supermajority in the Missouri legislature, making it likely that the map will be approved.
The proposed map would dramatically alter the Kansas City-area district long represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, splitting parts of the city and adding a wide swath of rural and heavily Republican central Missouri.
Changing those contours favors Republicans, giving the party an advantage in seven out of eight US House districts in Missouri. GOP lawmakers currently hold six of those seats; Democrats hold two.
The legislation in Missouri is the latest move to redraw maps across the country for partisan advantage, spurred by Trump as he tries to prevent Democrats from taking control of the US House for the final two years of his presidency.
State GOP Rep. Dirk Deaton, the sponsor of the map in the Missouri House, called it an “improvement” over the current lines.
“It’s my belief that it is a better map for Missouri,” he told members of a House special committee on redistricting.
In the heated opening moments of the hearing, Democratic lawmakers slammed the redistricting effort as a raw power grab by Washington interests.
“Democracy in Missouri is taking a devastating blow … one it might not recover from,” said state Rep. Mark Sharp, the top Democrat on the panel.
State Rep. Ashley Aune, the minority leader in the House, said Republican lawmakers had opened the hearing without first publicly sharing data about the demographics of the new districts. She questioned who drew the new lines.
Deaton said the map was drawn by staffers in the office of Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.
“I think that everyone watching actually understands that the people who drew these maps are sitting in DC,” Aune retorted. “It’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.”
Kehoe last week announced the special session and unveiled what he called a “Missouri First” map – a move immediately hailed by Trump.
Texas recently passed new maps that aim to help Republicans net five seats in that state; Democratic officials in California have responded by seeking a new map that could flip as many five GOP-held seats. California voters must approve that move in November.