April 8, 2011

The Missouri House of Representatives voted to approve a map that would eliminate a St. Louis congressional district held by Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo. In addition to these changes, Columbia would lose Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., as a Representative and move into Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s, R-Mo, proposed congressional district.

The proposal was drafted in response to the 2010 census and reconfigures Missouri’s nine current U.S. House districts into eight. The proposed changes would leave Democrats with two left-leaning districts and Republicans with six right-leaning districts.

Evidenced by the results of the census, the average rate of growth among all states was 9 percent, whereas Missouri only grew 7 percent. Because Missouri’s population grew considerably slower, the re-drawing of existing congressional lines was necessary to account for population changes.

“When the population shifts, we have to make sure the districts are equal,” said State Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville, and chairman of the redistricting committee in the Senate. “St. Louis needed to gain 163,000 people, and to do that you have to grab more geography to get more people in that congressional district.”

A prominent feature of the proposal is the mixing of rural and urban districts. For example, Luetkemeyer’s congressional district under the proposal would lose Columbia and Northeast Missouri, but gain Jefferson City and parts of suburban St. Louis.

Rupp said because voting trends change drastically year to year, there are no political implications as a result of blending rural and urban districts involved in the proposal’s possible implementation.

“We don’t look at voting trends, we look at the population,” Rupp said. “There will always be rural-urban mixes within districts in a state like Missouri. If a seat is lost such as in St. Louis, you must absorb the 163,000 people from surrounding counties, the map changes drastically.”

Rupp said the redistricting process, under the House proposal, could also help increase competition by mixing constituencies with differing political standpoints.

“When a district absorbs the loss of a seat, the population is spread out and it will alter the district’s make up,” Rupp said. “You can move a seat either way and the district will become more competitive.”

Rep. Ron Casey, D-Mo., provided the only “no” vote against the proposal. Jefferson County, Casey’s district, is home to 218,000 Missourians and is at risk of being divided into three different districts under the proposal.

“That’s a heavily Democratic vote that would be split up,” Casey said. “It works to the Republican advantage because the district would be divided, then the new districts would be represented by Republican congress people because the Republicans have the majority and are drawing the lines.”

Casey also saw more practicality in keeping urban areas independent of rural communities.

“I don’t want to make a district I represent go to the Lake of the Ozarks,” Casey said. “I believe that’s a horrible idea. I respect it, but I disagree with it.”

Hartzler’s spokesman, Steve Walsh, said if the proposal goes through, Columbia’s potential move from Luetkemeyer’s ninth district into what would be Hartzler’s fourth district holds no real political implications.

“Columbia is currently apart of the ninth district and is represented by a Republican,” Walsh said. “There are no real political implications because Columbia, already represented by a Republican would still be represented by a Republican if it were moved to the fourth district.”

Luetkemeyer’s press secretary, Paul Sloca, said Luetkemeyer cannot comment until the proposal has reached its final form.

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