The Republican-controlled Missouri State House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted on Tuesday to reject the Senate-passed redistricting plan and requested that the two chambers resolve their differences via a conference committee.
By voting to reject the Senate-passed plan, the Missouri state House also ignored the 5 p.m., March 29 candidate filing deadline.
After the vote, as part of legislative operating procedure, the House sent the Senate a message which said:
Mr. President: I am instructed by the House of Representatives to inform the Senate that the House refuses to adopt SS#2 for HCS for HB 2117, as amended, and requests the Senate to recede from its position and failing to do so grant the House a conference thereon.
Before the final House vote, there was a lengthy floor debate over the motion to reject the Senate-passed version. Missouri has eight U.S. House districts, with a current partisan makeup of six Republicans and two Democrats. The floor debate centered on which chamber’s map was better.
Several House members stated during the proceedings that “the House is an equal body to the Senate” during the proceedings and made reference to the Senate’s prior actions.
The House had previously passed its own plan, which was rejected by the Senate. That plan would have kept the 6-2 partisan status quo.
No move nor mention of trying to move the redistricting map towards a 7-1 Republican majority map was made during Tuesday’s House floor debate. The Star News Network previously reported that conservatives were pushing for an aggressive plan which would change Missouri’s U.S. House delegation to a GOP 7-1 majority instead of the current 6-2 lineup. That idea was hotly debated in both chambers in the past but ultimately discarded.
Procedurally, the state Senate has the option to agree to meet in a conference or simply accept House 6-2 map. If both chambers cannot agree on a map, a court may wind up drawing the new U.S. House lines.
In a release, Missouri State Senator Mike Moon (R-Aurora) expressed his disagreement with the maps proposed by both chambers.
“I voted against the map because it does not represent the 7-1 or a 6-1-1 map supported by my constituents,” he said. “Missourians want to send representatives to the U.S. Congress who will stand for the unborn, the right to keep and bear arms, less taxation and the reduction of burdensome regulations on the American people, and I believe the map passed by the Senate does not send enough of these types of lawmakers to Washington, D.C.”
Moon offered an amendment prior to the Senate vote on Friday to establish a 6-1-1 map, which would create six-strong Republican districts, one Democrat-leaning district, and one competitive district. The amendment failed by a vote of 7-22.
“Over the course of the past year, I believe other states have enacted new congressional maps that intentionally send more liberals to Congress,” Moon said. “To counteract these actions, we must do everything we can to ensure Missouri’s representatives in Washington, D.C. reflect our state’s conservative values.”
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, and Parler.
Photo “Rob Vescovo” by Rob Vescovo. Background Photo “Missouri House Chamber” by Missouri House of Representatives.
