The Missouri state legislature passed a new congressional map Friday, sending to GOP Gov. Mike Kehoe a new set of districts that would target one of the state’s two Democrat members of Congress.
The 21-11 state Senate vote is the latest in a rising partisan gerrymandering war nationwide, with the new map splitting the Kansas City-area seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II.
Two Republicans broke with their party and opposed the Missouri bill.
The nationwide redistricting push started with a new map in Texas, spurred by President Donald Trump and designed to eliminate several Democratic seats. California’s legislature responded with a proposed map, intended to eliminate several GOP seats, that will be subject to a state referendum this fall.
Missouri’s new map could face court challenges as well as a voter ballot initiative. In the map passed by legislators Friday, Cleaver’s seat is split and adds areas currently represented by Republican Reps. Bob Onder and Mark Alford, while shifting Republican-leaning areas throughout the state.
Cleaver testified before a state Senate committee on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. He did not vote in the House on Thursday morning.
Democrats, including state Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern of Kansas City, criticized the map on the Senate floor for splitting the city for political advantage, particularly on old racial lines. Nurrenbern also criticized the state’s Republicans for crafting a map at the behest of Trump.
“Nobody in Missouri drew these maps,” Nurrenbern said.
Republicans have defended the plan, including the Republican sponsor of the plan, State Rep. Dirk Deaton, arguing that it fell within their power as legislators and was more compact than the existing plan.
Earlier this week, the Missouri state House passed the map on a 90-65 vote. The vote in both chambers fell short of a two-thirds majority threshold needed to enact an “emergency clause” laid in the state’s constitution.
That means that the new map is vulnerable to a citizen ballot initiative, which would need thousands of petition signatures across the state in the next 90 days to put the map on the ballot.
A spokesperson for the advocacy group People Not Politicians Missouri said in a statement they planned to launch that citizen petition following Friday’s vote. Spokesperson Elsa Rainey criticized the map as an “unconstitutional power grab” in Friday’s statement.
“This fight is not over. Missouri voters — not politicians — will have the final say,” Rainey’s statement said.
Several other states have mulled redistricting this fall, including Maryland and Ohio. The Buckeye state is set to start drawing its new map later this month.
Mary Ellen McIntire contributed to this report.
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