At Trump’s urging, Missouri jumps into redistricting race to help Republicans

Following President Trump’s request, Missouri Republicans are poised to redraw their state’s congressional lines to help maintain the GOP majority in the U.S. House. Gov. Mike Kehoe announced a special legislative session to draw a new voting map would start next Wednesday.

The state is currently represented in Congress by six Republicans and two Democrats. New maps could redistrict voters in the Kansas City area to help Republicans win a seat there, edging out current Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

In his statement calling the session, Kehoe wrote “Missouri’s conservative, common-sense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that.” The session will start Wednesday.

Trump himself telegraphed the move last week, writing on social media, “We’re going to win the Midterms in Missouri again, bigger and better than ever before!”

It’s a move that has the support of most of the state’s Republican congressional delegation, including freshman Rep. Bob Onder.

“We are a Republican state. Republicans have super majorities in the Missouri House and the Missouri Senate. Republicans hold all of our statewide elected offices, including, of course, governor,” Onder told St. Louis Public Radio earlier this month. “I believe that we should pass a congressional map that reflects the values of the state of Missouri.”

Opponents worry it could set off redistricting every election cycle

Cleaver, the Kansas City Democrat whose district might be most impacted by this, put out a statement shortly after Kehoe’s. “This attempt to gerrymander Missouri will not simply change district lines, it will silence voices. It will deny representation,” Cleaver wrote. “It will tell the people of Missouri that their lawmakers no longer wish to earn their vote, that elections are predetermined by the power brokers.”

Usually, states redistrict at the start of the decade after the national census shows how many seats each state has.

Democrats – and some Republicans – have urged states to keep to that schedule, concerned it could lead to redistricting in every election cycle. Several states have left redistricting to commissions that lessen the influence by politicians who may gerrymander districts to maintain their grip on power.

But Trump set off a nationwide redistricting race last month when he started calling on Republican-led states to redraw the map and help GOP candidates in the midterm elections.

Texas lawmakers passed a new map that Republicans believe will help them win five more seats. Democrats said the new districts dilute the voting power of Black and Latino communities.

California Democrats have responded with a plan that would tilt five seats in that state toward Democratic candidates. Since California has an independent commission that does the redistricting, the legislature there is asking voters in a special election in November to approve redrawing the map now without the going to the commission.

More states could soon announce their own redistricting moves

Meanwhile Republican leaders in Indiana and Florida have said they’re considering redistricting. Ohio is already facing a court order to draw new maps and that is expected to favor Republicans. Democrats in Illinois and Maryland have said they could try to redraw districts there that would benefit their party for a seat or two.

Republicans now hold a 219-212 majority in the U.S. House, with four vacancies, and the party in power often loses ground in midterm elections. A GOP House majority is critical for Trump’s agenda of deportations, tax breaks and other issues, as well as staving off investigations of his administration that Democrats might launch if they take control.

Jason Rosenbaum covers politics for St. Louis Public Radio.