JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Two differing visions for Missouri's next congressional map collided Monday when conservative hard-liners attempted to block a status quo-style plan that GOP leaders had brought up for debate.
The House narrowly backed the proposal in January, but official discussion on the boundaries had been on hold in the Senate as Republicans tried to broker an agreement between the two factions behind closed doors.
Debate continued through the night, with senators still debating at 8 a.m. Tuesday, after a coalition of Republicans and Democrats turned back the hard-liners' amendment to aggressively gerrymander Missouri's congressional map to eliminate one of two Democratic districts.
State Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, a Jefferson City Republican, introduced the House map for debate Monday evening, saying it was drawn to meet constitutional requirements and that it "appropriately" and "fairly" represented Missourians.
The map maintains two heavily Democratic seats covering the state's two largest metropolitan areas — St. Louis and Kansas City. It draws up five mostly rural GOP districts and one mostly suburban St. Louis-area seat Republicans believe incumbent state Rep. Ann Wagner, a Ballwin Republican, will win.
But two St. Charles County hard-liners — state Sens. Bill Eigel and Bob Onder — were quick to hold off a vote on the plan. They proposed an aggressive gerrymander to send seven Republicans and one Democrat to the U.S. House by eliminating the safe Democratic district of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City.
Hard-line senators held the floor for several hours but relinquished it and allowed a vote on the "7-1" map shortly before 10 p.m. A coalition of Republicans and Democrats killed the plan on an 8-24 vote.
"I just cannot tell you how disappointed I am in Republicans in this building," Onder said.
Party hard-liners such as Onder and Eigel and the anti-abortion Missouri Right to Life have attempted to turn support of a "7-1" map into a litmus test for GOP lawmakers.
Demonstrators in favor of a so-called "7-1" map rallied in the Capitol on Monday. In a sign Republicans were in disagreement over how to proceed, the Senate convened five hours later than expected.
"A difficult and potentially damaging conversation concerning our congressional redistricts must be had — not because we despise one another, but because the consequences of who we send to represent us in Washington, D.C., loom so large," Eigel said at the beginning of debate Monday.
Onder criticized the process by which the maps were drawn. The top House and Senate lawmakers in charge of redistricting released the proposed map on Dec. 30.
"This process has stunk from the very beginning," Onder said.
Eigel's proposed "7-1" map would have eliminated the safe Democratic district in Kansas City by pairing Democrats there with conservative rural voters.
It would also make major changes to congressional lines in the St. Louis area.
The current congressional boundaries, as well as those outlined in the House plan, split St. Louis County between the 1st and 2nd congressional districts. Eigel's plan would have split St. Louis County three ways, between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts.
The 2nd and 3rd districts would've paired St. Louis County voters with rural, heavily conservative voters from outside the St. Louis area.
But despite bitter speeches on the Senate floor, support for the "7-1" plan was lacking, with the majority appearing to favor the previously approved House plan.
"We were told in a group text by our floor leader (Sen. Caleb Rowden, a Columbia Republican) tonight that a majority — and although I will say a narrow majority of our caucus — supports (the 6-2 House) map," Onder said.
After Eigel's 7-1 map failed, state Sen. Steven Roberts, a St. Louis Democrat, proposed an amendment he said would strengthen minority representation in the 1st Congressional District, held by Democratic Rep. Cori Bush.
The House Republican plan would increase the 1st's footprint in Webster Groves area, placing Democratic-leaning voters in those majority-white communities in the 1st, which is a majority-minority district under the Voting Rights Act.
While Democrats in the House said shifting these voters to the 1st would harm the district's majority-minority status, placing these voters in the 2nd would also increase that district's competitiveness this decade, another goal for Democrats. Republicans initially appeared skeptical when presented with the plan.
Some Democrats may ultimately support the 6-2 House plan if it means avoiding a GOP gerrymander of the Cleaver's district as the conservatives have pushed.
Two Democrats from Kansas City rescued the 6-2 House plan in the Senate Redistricting Committee, providing the votes necessary to send the plan that keeps the Kansas City congressman's district intact to the Senate floor.
The legislation is House Bill 2117.
