What Redistricting Looks Like In Every State

After months of impasse, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed a new congressional map into law on May 18. This came after the state House made a last-ditch effort on May 10 to avoid court intervention in the matter, passing a new map. The map is a slightly amended version of one introduced on May 4 but still contains six reliably Republican-leaning districts and two reliably Democratic-leaning districts. The state Senate passed it on May 13, with just hours remaining in the legislature’s current session. The governor’s signoff brings a monthslong standoff between Republicans to a close.

So why did it take so long? Back in January, the House approved a congressional map that featured two solidly Democratic seats, five solidly Republican seats and one light-red seat, the 2nd District, in suburban St. Louis. When it reached the Senate, however, a group of conservative hard-liners filibustered the House’s proposal, arguing it was “giving away one to two congressional seats to Nancy Pelosi and the congressional Democrats.” Instead, they insisted on the passage of a 7-1 Republican map that would have dismantled the Democratic-held 5th District around Kansas City.

After two months of stalemate, all but two of the conservatives eventually agreed to support a compromise map that would keep Kansas City’s blue district intact but put the 2nd District comfortably out of Democrats’ reach. The Senate finally passed that map on March 24, along with a separate measure that would allow the map to take effect before the state’s March 29 candidate filing deadline. However, the House refused to go along, instead requesting a conference committee so that the two chambers can work out the differences between their maps. The Senate rejected that request, so the filing deadline came and went with no new congressional map.