Missouri House approves Republican-drawn congressional map

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) -Missouri's House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a new congressional map that will likely give Republicans an additional U.S. House seat in next year's midterm elections, expanding President Donald Trump's unprecedented effort to redraw congressional lines in the middle of the decade.

The "Missouri First" map, which passed solely with Republican votes, breaks up a Democratic-held district in Kansas City and gives Republicans an advantage in seven of the state's eight U.S. House of Representatives districts. The 11-term incumbent in Kansas City, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, has vowed to challenge the map in court.

The Republican-dominated Missouri Senate is expected to approve the map next week, sending it to Republican Governor Mike Kehoe for his signature.

The vote marks another step in an escalating national battle over redistricting that started this summer when Texas Republicans drew a new map at Trump's urging aimed at flipping five Democratic seats. California Democrats have proposed their own revised map to flip five Republican seats, though under state law the plan must gain voters' approval in November.

Another Republican state, Ohio, is required to draw a new map due to a quirk in state law, and Republicans there plan to target at least two Democratic seats. Under pressure from the White House, other Republican states are weighing redrawing their own maps as well, including Kansas, Nebraska and Indiana.

Democratic governors, including Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Maryland Governor Wes Moore, have not ruled out mounting their own redistricting efforts.

The outcome of the redistricting fights could determine which party controls the U.S. House next year. Republicans captured a narrow majority in last year's election by a margin of only three seats.

Redistricting typically occurs once a decade after the U.S. Census. While mid-decade redistricting has occurred in the past, it is almost always the result of litigation, rather than a purely partisan exercise.

With little legislative recourse to block the map, Missouri Democrats have decried Republicans and planned a rally outside the Capitol in Jefferson City for Wednesday, while three lawmakers staged a five-day sit-in on the House floor.

"Make no mistake: the Missouri GOP is aiding and abetting the systematic destruction of our democracy by an authoritarian regime, led by a geriatric con man who knows the only way he can win is to cheat," Ashley Aune, the Democratic minority leader in the Missouri House, said during debate on the bill on Tuesday.

Republicans have defended the new map as legal and noted that the legislature has authority over redistricting.

"This is a better map," Republican lawmaker Dirk Deaton said. "Democracy is in action today."

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, Editing by Nick Zieminski)