JEFFERSON CITY, Mo — A St. Charles County senator kicked off business in the Missouri Senate on Wednesday by delaying any action in protest of proposed talks with the House on a compromise congressional map.
The House voted Tuesday for a conference committee on a map the Senate approved last week.
"In order for the Senate to proceed with business, we need to reject the House's motion to go to conference," said Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis. "If the House doesn't recede from their position, that will be their decision."
He said such a move would send the redrawing of the state's congressional lines to the courts, Onder said.
"That will be their decision, not ours," he said.
Onder was holding the floor Wednesday morning, tying the chamber in procedural knots.
House lawmakers on Tuesday poured cold water on a congressional map the Senate approved Thursday after two months of negotiations.
The so-called "6-2" map — six Republican districts and two Democratic ones — matches the partisan breakdown of the map the House approved, but with some drastic changes.
An alteration to the shape of the 2nd Congressional District, which currently covers the St. Louis suburbs, drew pointed opposition from Republicans in the House.
The Senate's version pairs suburban St. Louis neighborhoods with rural areas, stretching the 2nd from St. Louis County all the way south to Iron County.
The district also includes St. Francois and Washington counties, as well as part of Franklin County.
"To me District 2 looks like gerrymandering on steroids," said Rep. Mike McGirl, R-Potosi, in Washington County.
But hard-liners such as Onder accepted the Senate-approved map due to changes in how St. Charles County was split.
Under the Senate version, four-fifths of the county's population would be placed in the 3rd Congressional District. St. Charles County lawmakers say they want as much of the county as possible within one congressional district because it is a "community of interest."
But opponents of the strategy charge Onder is trying to manipulate the process to aid a potential run for Congress in the future. Onder has denied this.
