The Missouri Senate approved a congressional map on Thursday, ending weeks of Republican infighting over how far to go in drawing GOP-leaning districts for partisan advantage.
The map — approved in a 22-10 vote — was the result of a compromise among Republicans, including between GOP leaders and some members of the Conservative Caucus, a hard-right group of seven senators who had filibustered previous proposals.
The district lines are expected to preserve the state’s current mix of six Republican and two Democratic members of Congress, falling short of the Conservative Caucus’ goal of seven Republicans.
A 7-1 map, as senators called it, would have required gerrymandering the Kansas City-area 5th District, long held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Instead, the map consolidates the district into the Kansas City area and eliminates its rural communities, which currently stretch into central Missouri.
The map significantly redraws the St. Louis-area 2nd District, held by Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner.
Instead of the blob that it is today, its new claw-like shape stretches from the St. Louis metro into southern Missouri, in hopes of making it more Republican.
The map also places Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base in the same district, a major goal of Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican and Conservative Caucus member.
“It’s not an easy process, as we’ve all seen how difficult it is,” Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, a Sullivan Republican and U.S. Senate candidate, said. “But at the end of the day, we were able to get it done.”
The redistricting process still isn’t complete. The House must now pass the new map, along with an emergency clause that will allow it to take effect before the August primary election.
When the House passed its own map earlier this year, lawmakers failed to approve the emergency clause. The stakes of the redistricting dispute had risen since the Senate last fought over maps six weeks ago. Missouri’s candidate filing deadline is next Tuesday and without new lines, candidates don’t know whose votes they’re seeking.
Two lawsuits — one by a statewide group of voters and another by a St. Louis-area candidate — have been filed asking judges to take action.
Republican senators described the final compromise as the result of painstaking work, including a midnight gathering of senators Wednesday night to hash out final differences ahead of the vote Thursday afternoon. The proposal that ultimately passed was offered on the Senate floor by Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican and Conservative Caucus member.
The plan divided the Conservative Caucus. Democrats also split on the measure.
“The Conservative Caucus, my fellow colleagues, we remain a bit disappointed that we couldn’t deliver on a map that was a 7-1 map that we’ve been talking about for longer than the session,” said Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican.
The Conservative Caucus made a final push at a more aggressive map Thursday morning. Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican running for Congress, offered what he called a “6-1-1” map that would have turned the 5th District into a competitive seat. Senators quickly rejected the idea, voting it down 7-22.
Sen. Bob Onder, a Lake St. Louis Republican and Conservative Caucus member, voted against the final map. He said a 7-1 map, or alternatively, Moon’s 6-1-1 proposal, would best represent the values and interests of Missourians.
“And it wasn’t that,” Onder said, adding that he didn’t intend to take anything away from Conservative Caucus members who negotiated on the compromise.
On Thursday morning, Onder had appeared willing to filibuster throughout the weekend. But after Koenig offered the compromise, neither Onder nor any other senator attempted to filibuster. Onder said there was “ultimately a realization” that this was probably the best map that lawmakers would pass. “So we sat down. Some of us felt just barely comfortable voting for it and I felt less comfortable, so I voted against it,” Onder said.
Democrats, who had largely watched the GOP infighting play out over the past several weeks, lent some support to the map. Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, said the “winner of the day is compromise.”
“The big thing is we’re able to move on,” Rizzo said.
Conflict has gripped the chamber all year, as mainstream Republicans grow tired of the Conservative Caucus’ aggressive tactics, which have included trying to tack hard-right measures onto relatively uncontroversial legislation as well as filibustering congressional maps.
The fights have veered from the serious to the absurd, with Moon temporarily stripped of committee assignments last month after he wore overalls onto the Senate floor.
Some senators cautioned against interpreting the map compromise as any kind of larger breakthrough in the internecine Republican struggle.
Eigel said no commitments were made regarding unrelated bills. By one estimate, senators spent 75 hours debating redistricting before passing the map.
“I think everybody got something and everybody gave something,” Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican, said.
