Missouri Gov. Parson signs congressional map that protects Cleaver, sidestepping lawsuits
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday signed a new congressional map that likely maintains the state’s current mix of Republican and Democratic districts and protects U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s seat in Congress.
The Republican governor’s signature ends months of political infighting among GOP legislators over whether to draw a map that would allow the party to pick up an additional seat in Congress.
The map went into effect immediately after Parson’s signature and will be used in the upcoming Aug. 2 primaries. Parson’s decision sidesteps the immediate possibility of federal or state judges drawing the state’s boundaries.
Missouri Congressional map, 2022
Before signing the bill into law, Parson called it a “6-2 map” — in reference to the six Republican and two Democratic districts it maintained. He said the “long, drawn out” redistricting process left “other major priorities” unfinished during the legislative session.
“A lot of work went into that, trying to get it across,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that it probably took as long as it did.”
Asked if he believed the map would hold up if it were challenged in court, Parson pointed to Kansas Supreme Court’s decision earlier Wednesday to uphold a Republican-drawn congressional map that divides racially diverse Wyandotte County.
“I think the map’s constitutional. I think it will survive that,” he said. “I think what you’ve just seen over in Kansas the last couple of days with their map and what the courts ruled ... Of course, that was a Kansas Supreme Court, but I don’t think the courts are going to be too anxious to get involved either...”
The Missouri Senate finally reached agreement on the boundaries last Thursday.
Missouri Senate districts, 2022
It was viewed as a compromise among Republicans to survive the Senate, where a group of hard-line conservatives had fought for a map that would have made parts of Kansas City’s 5th District more rural and pushed out Cleaver, a nine-term Democrat.
The new boundaries split Democratic-leaning Boone County in half between the 3rd and 4th districts, which both lean right.
Jefferson County is also split between the 3rd and 8th districts.
And it keeps two of the state’s military bases – Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base – together in the 4th District, currently represented by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Vicky Hartzler.
The map has already caused at least one candidate to drop out of the upcoming election. State Rep. Sara Walsh, an Ashland Republican, announced this week she was withdrawing from her congressional campaign after the new maps pushed her out of the 4th District and into the 3rd District. She said the new district would no longer include her largest supporters.
Separately on Wednesday, attorneys for the plaintiffs in two lawsuits against the state said they would file motions to dismiss the suits if Parson signed the map into law. The lawsuits asked judges to draw the state’s congressional boundaries if the legislature was unable to pass a map.
