2020 Census and Redistricting Thread: Missouri

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https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article258220283.html

Republican Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, chairman of the Senate's redistricting committee, said passing a 7-1 GOP map wouldn't reflect the political makeup of the state. He equated it to cheating in baseball, adding: “We're not beating the Democrats with our best pitch, we're taking the bat away from them.”

Lol, as if this is going to convince the Conservative Caucus to stop filibustering.

Republican leadership in MO is so adorable. They're concerned about fairness. Democrats took the bat away in Illinois and New York, gaining at least 5 seats in the process, with no regard for reflecting the political makeup of the state. And no court will strike them down for "partisan fairness" reasons. It seems only Kansas and Tennessee GOPs have the absolute depravity Dem redistricters have. And we'll see if those even survive. So far, the courts have sent a pretty clear message: one party is allowed to gerrymander without consequences, and one isn't.

The GOP literally gerrymandered just about as many districts in Texas as the Democrats did in NY, Illinois and Maryland combined.

Also, lets not pretend the Missouri GOP gives a crap about fairness.   They are still looking to gerrymander MO-02 and make it safer for the GOP.  While some might give somewhat of a carp, those who are opposed to the 7-1 map generally fit into two camps.  Those that have some concerns that going for a 7-1 map could wind up being a dummymander in a Democratic year.  Those that feel torching Kansas City would be less likely to make it through a court challenge.  An overturned map is likely to result in a less GOP friendly MO-02.

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Wait so why isn't the legislature just passing the 7-1 map? What's there to lose?

Because most of the legislature does not want to cave in to angry idiot far-right caucus members for a sh**tty unfair map.

Lol so the Republicans won't gerrymander out of concerns over fairness even though Democrats are doing it in Illinois and New York? Lmao they're giving away seats for nothing.

Republicans aren’t worried about the unfairness, they’re worried about the sh**ttiness.

How is it a bad map for them if it guarantees them 7 congressional seats?

It probably messes up the primary risk and what counties people want to or don’t want to represent. And some of them may not want a less Republican seat even if it’s unlikely to flip.

It's pretty silly nevertheless. Giving up a whole new Safe Republican seat to make sure your R+30 seat doesn't turn into R+20.

One thing that likely plays into it as well, is the ability to make sure MO-02 becomes more Republican.  Carving up Kansas City, the way the GOP carved up Nashville in Tennessee comes with more risk of getting overturned.  While I'm not are of tighter redistricting rules in Missouri, any time you start carving up cities, you are going to run into that risk.


 If the maps get overturned it could lead to a court drawn map.  A court drawn map likely results in MO-02 remaining a Democratic trending swing seat instead of a GOP leaning one which they are intending to draw.  Probably not an issue this year, but certainly an issue down the road unless the GOP stops the bleeding of educated suburbanites.    Quite simply, they would rather go for a pretty safe 6-2 map, then push for a 7-1 which could backfire likely result in a 5-2-1 map or a 5-3 map as the decade progresses.