Washington — The Missouri state legislature on Friday handed a plan to redraw the state’s congressional maps and probably add one other Republican-leaning Home seat, the most recent state to affix a nationwide redistricting push backed by President Trump.
The state Senate passed the redistricting plan Friday, sending it to the desk of Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, who says he’ll signal it into regulation. The state Home passed the plan on Tuesday. Kehoe known as a special session to take up redistricting final month.
The brand new map would cut up up the Kansas Metropolis space, making longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s district extra conservative. Missouri would then be left with seven GOP-leaning Home districts and one Democratic-leaning seat, a shift from the state’s present Home delegation, which has six Republicans and two Democrats.
The redistricting push follows comparable mid-decade redistricting strikes by California and Texas. The nationwide gambit to reshape congressional maps comes as Republicans battle to carry onto a razor-thin majority within the Home in subsequent 12 months’s midterm elections.
At Mr. Trump’s urging, Texas officers handed a plan to create 5 new GOP-leaning districts last month. California lawmakers shortly responded by passing a map that might transfer 5 Republican-held seats towards Democrats, although the California plan nonetheless must be authorized by voters in a particular election this fall.
Mr. Trump lauded Missouri lawmakers for advancing the brand new map, which he mentioned in a Truth Social post “will, hopefully, give us a further Seat in Congress” and “will assist ship a further MAGA Republican to Congress.”
“A brand new, a lot fairer, and far improved, Congressional Map, has now overwhelmingly handed each Chambers of the Missouri Legislature,” the president wrote.
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, known as the brand new maps “rigged” in a press release Friday.
“Bowing to the calls for of Donald Trump, corrupt Missouri Republicans superior their mid-decade gerrymandering scheme right this moment to try to rig the midterm elections as a way to salvage the weak GOP Home majority,” he mentioned.
Earlier than the brand new maps handed, College of Missouri professor Peverill Squire told CBS News that Republicans have weighed splitting up Cleaver’s district for years — however “none of this comes with none price.” He famous that the redrawn maps are primarily based on years-old knowledge which will have modified, and authorized challenges may observe.
“There’s quite a lot of danger for the Republicans, and the one factor for the time being that they stand to realize is possibly yet another Home seat,” Squire mentioned.
Nikole Killion and
contributed to this report.
