Efforts to redraw Missouri Congressional Map draw backlash 

  New redistricting maps introduced by Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe on August 29th were approved by the House after a special session that began on September 3rd. 

  On Tuesday, Sep. 9, the redrawn map was passed along to the Missouri State Senate, where it was approved on the 12th.

  Typically, states redraw their districts after the census is gathered, once every ten years. 

  The unprecedented move comes after President Trump ordered Texas’s Governor Mike Abbott to make the same move in order to push democratic leaders out of their seats in Congress. 

  The move has since sparked national interest and led other states to consider similar efforts.

  The initiative has drawn backlash from numerous major Democratic figures, including Kansas City’s Mayor, Quinton Lucas, who said the new maps will “undermine Kansas City Police, Kansas City schools, Kansas City infrastructure, and Kansas City jobs, while doing nothing to enhance support for small businesses and agriculture.”

  Republicans are enthusiastic about the move, claiming that it will make the districts more representative of the Missouri population. 

  President Trump claimed that passing this map will “deliver a gigantic victory for Republicans in the ‘Show Me State,’ and across the country,” 

UMKC political science professor David Sprick commented on the efforts before they were passed to the Senate. 

“For the 5th district [a reliably democratic district and where KC is] it’s being split up and there’s a real risk of it not being able to remain democratic,” said Sprick.

Sprick also said that, if passed into law, this move goes against the one-man-one-vote principle, which states that an individual’s voting power should be roughly equal to another person’s in that same state. 

Second year political science major Sophie Falco commented on the potential impact of these renewed maps. 

“When I was interning at the state capitol, I saw lots of conflict between representatives in rural vs. urban areas because they didn’t understand the issues that the other was dealing with,” said Falco “I foresee the redistricting only exacerbating these issues.”

In response to the resolution, the ACLU filed for a lawsuit on the 12th. The Kansas City Council also authorized legal action to be taken against the state in protest of the “gerrymandered” maps.

The resolution will be sent to the governor’s desk for signing.

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