Filibuster of ‘6-2’ congressional map continues in Missouri Senate | Politics

Discussion on the congressional map began after 5 p.m. Monday. For most of the day Tuesday, conservative hard-liners held off a vote on a so-called “6-2” map sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, that was described as a compromise.

The map kept two Democratic seats, and appeared to shore up Rep. Ann Wagner’s 2nd Congressional District for the Republicans, giving the GOP six safe seats. Republican hard-liners, who have sought to eliminate one of the Democratic districts, weren’t satisfied.

Senators eventually gave Rowden’s map preliminary approval at about 5 p.m. Tuesday. The map passed on a 22-5 vote, then was withdrawn from consideration.

Senators broke for a recess. They returned and brought up for debate the map that the House approved last month.

The House map would keep Wagner’s district somewhat competitive over the next decade.

But the House plan does create a 2nd District that is more Republican-leaning than is currently the case, according to an analysis by the 538 redistricting tracker. GOP leaders have expressed confidence that Wagner will retain the seat.

Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, the chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said early Tuesday afternoon that both Rowden’s map and the House version had enough support.

“Getting to a vote is a whole other thing,” Bernskoetter said.

While the Senate could opt to send the House map directly to Gov. Mike Parson, passing its own map would mean more discussion in the House, Bernskoetter said.

“If we stick with this one, then like I said, then it has to go back to the House and go through that process again,” Bernskoetter said of Rowden’s map. “It doesn’t really have a certain path over in the House because of the changes that we made might not make people happy over there.”

Both plans divide St. Charles County between the 2nd and 3rd congressional districts — a point of contention for St. Charles County Sens. Bob Onder and Bill Eigel, who both blasted the Rowden plan on Tuesday.

But the conservative hard-liners were clearly in the minority on the redistricting issue.

Not only did both Republicans and Democrats express support for Rowden’s 6-2 map, but a bipartisan coalition also killed an alternative map proposed by the hard-liners — a “7-1” plan to eliminate one of the Democratic districts — Monday night on an 8-24 vote.

“The floor leader (Rowden) has said this makes CD2 stronger for a Republican, but I’ve been lied to before in this building, and in this chamber and so I’ve got to see those numbers,” Onder said.

He said other potential compromise maps didn’t make “as aggressive a cut into St. Charles County as this map does. And I start to think some of it’s just vindictiveness.”

Rowden has accused Onder of wanting a congressional map that keeps St. Charles County whole so that he can more easily run for Congress in the future. Onder has called that “nonsense.”

GOP leaders may need Democratic votes to approve any 6-2 map.

“My objective from the beginning is and continues to be finding a path to getting 18 votes,” Rowden said on Tuesday morning. “It’s a path to 18 and I’m not entirely sure where those 18 come from but we — that’s the goal at this point.”

The Senate “set aside” other maps that could’ve delivered a “broader compromise,” Eigel said. “This conversation seemed to really exclude basically a third of the majority caucus.”

“The worst compromises are the ones that are only made with part of the group in mind,” Eigel said Tuesday morning.

The hard-line Republican senators cited Democratic gerrymandering in New York and Illinois to argue for a more aggressive effort by Missouri Republicans to maximize the party’s strength in Congress.

But GOP legislative leaders have warned a too-aggressive redistricting effort could hurt the party in future elections.

Updated at 9:34 p.m. Tuesday.