JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri House on Thursday jettisoned a Senate-approved blueprint for the state’s congressional maps, with House members again urging senators to meet to work out differences.
The 26-129 vote Thursday on the Senate map followed the upper chamber’s refusal on Wednesday to meet with House mapmakers in a conference committee.
Following the Thursday vote against the Senate map, the House voted again for a conference committee.
“They (senators) don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to continue the process. They choose to let us — or to force us — to vote on (the Senate map),” said GOP Rep. Dan Shaul, the chairman of the House Redistricting Committee.
“They basically said to us take it or leave it,” Shaul said.
GOP Sen. Bob Onder, who had held out for changes to the House map, on Wednesday said that if the House rejected the Senate map, it would effectively send the issue to the courts.
“This is not a vote to go to court,” Shaul said on Thursday.
House GOP leaders — House Speaker Rob Vescovo, House Majority Leader Dean Plocher, House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann and Shaul — issued a joint statement after the Thursday action.
“Today’s vote was a vote to continue the process and to continue the discussion so we can reach a compromise that will provide the best possible map for the state of Missouri,” they said.
“We will continue to work toward a compromise with our Senate colleagues so that we can pass a map that fairly and accurately reflects our state,” the statement said.
Senate leaders said they hope to continue negotiations with the House over the map.
“We’re still not giving up hope,” said Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, a Republican. “We’re just trying to get it done.”
Rowden said he expects additional lawsuits will be filed heading toward the Legislature’s scheduled May 13 adjournment date.
Rowden dismissed comments from Gov. Mike Parson, who said Wednesday he was disappointed that lawmakers had not found agreement on the new boundaries.
“There’s plenty of blame to go around everywhere,” Rowden said.
House Minority Leader John Rizzo, a Democrat, said he considers the maps to be done and offered little hope that continued negotiations would help end the stalemate. He said any further discussion about the map would become the legislative equivalent of a “food fight.”
“The maps are where they are. I think we should stand firm in the position we’re at,” Rizzo said. “At this point, you’re trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. We toiled and toiled and toiled and toiled to get this map.”
As one of the leaders of the Senate’s hard-line faction, Onder said he found himself agreeing with the Democratic leader.
“The Senate map represents a compromise,” Onder said.
The Senate map drew criticism from House Republicans who raised concerns about where their communities ended up under the plan.
Rep. Mike McGirl complained about the shape of the 2nd District earlier this week. The district, held by U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, would stretch from St. Louis County south to Iron County under the Senate plan.
“To me District 2 looks like gerrymandering on steroids,” he said this week.
GOP Rep. Sara Walsh, who is running for Congress in the 4th District, raised concerns about a split through Boone County under the map.
GOP Rep. Shamed Dogan called the Senate map “hideous” in an interview after the House vote on Thursday.
Like the House map, the Senate map would likely deliver six districts for Republicans and two districts for Democrats.
Lawmakers from St. Charles County, including Onder, had pushed for major changes to how their home county was split under the scheme. The map that ultimately cleared the Senate places four-fifths of the county’s residents in the 3rd District.
Not all House lawmakers opposed the plan. Three St. Charles County Republicans — Reps. Nick Schroer, Adam Schnelting and Phil Christofanelli — all voted for the map.
Seventeen Black lawmakers broke with other Democrats to back it. Members of the Legislative Black Caucus huddled in a side gallery before the vote.
Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, a Democrat and one of the Black lawmakers who backed the Senate plan, said it strengthened the 1st Congressional District’s minority-majority status.
“I don’t want to gamble by sending this to the courts when we have a map in front of us that benefits CD1,” he said.
Aldridge said he worried a court could take minority voters from the 1st and place them in the 2nd to make that district more competitive for Democrats.
He said that even though the 2nd District is more “gerrymandered” under the Senate plan, “it is winnable.”
