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Missouri Republicans have joined the redistricting fight that President Trump started. They begin a special legislative session this afternoon. The open, explicit goal is to make sure Republicans win extra congressional seats, even if they fail to win extra votes. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum has this report.
JASON ROSENBAUM, BYLINE: Trump successfully pushed Texas to overhaul its congressional maps to carve out five GOP seats. And with California voters considering a map that could elect as many as five more Democrats, Republican governor Mike Kehoe called lawmakers back to Jefferson City to redraw Missouri’s eight districts.
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MIKE KEHOE: I appreciate President Donald Trump for raising the level of conversation on this matter because his leadership on this nationally underscores just how important this moment is for Missouri.
ROSENBAUM: Republicans want to change Democratic congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City based district to lean Republican. Republican congressman Eric Burlison of Southwest Missouri says the goal is to preserve the GOP’s majority in elections next year.
ERIC BURLISON: It’s such a thin majority. It’s so thin that every seat is going to count.
ROSENBAUM: Cleaver, a congressional veteran who also served as Kansas City’s first Black mayor, decried the unprecedented mid-decade redistricting as an illegal and desperate effort to appease Trump.
EMANUEL CLEAVER: This is nothing but a move toward establishing a de facto, one-party rule in Missouri.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Show me what democracy looks like.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Show me what democracy looks like.
ROSENBAUM: On Labor Day, hundreds of people gathered in a suburban St. Louis county park to protest the upcoming special session. Laura Gordon says she’s hoping the whole effort backfires on Republicans and allows Democrats to win several Kansas City area districts. The new map makes those districts more competitive.
LAURA GORDON: I hope this is what turns the tide, but at the end of the day, if it doesn’t, I know I’ll keep fighting, and a lot of us will keep fighting until we do stop them.
ROSENBAUM: The special session is expected to last through the middle of September. For NPR News, I’m Jason Rosenbaum in St. Louis.
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