A group of state leaders and advocacy groups said Tuesday that efforts to redraw Missouri’s congressional districts will lump together urban and rural areas, potentially pitting communities against each other as they try to get their priorities in front of elected officials.
Representatives of the NAACP, the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, the Missouri Workers Center and others said during a virtual news conference that a proposed map designed to split the 5th Congressional District, which encompasses Kansas City, would weaken voter representation and harm communities.
Missouri currently has eight congressional districts. Under the 6-2 map, the two districts that cover Kansas City and St. Louis are held by Democrats. But during a special legislative session that begins on Wednesday, Missouri Republicans hope to split Kansas City and dilute 5th District voters into the surrounding 4th and 6th districts, creating a 7-1 Republican-leaning map and eliminating U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s safe Democratic seat…