KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — To understand the impact of Rushing to redraw U.S. congressional districts Before the 2026 election, consider one of the historically black neighborhoods in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the small town of Booneville, population 7,800.
The community of 18th and Vine is known for its museum that tells the history of segregated professional baseball in the decades before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Its leaders are talking about expanding the city’s streetcar lines to attract more tourists to cultural and historical attractions.
About 100 miles (161 kilometers) to the east, leaders in Boonville are seeking federal help to restore an old railroad bridge to give cyclists more direct access to a popular cross-state bike path near the predominantly white farming community.
The two areas are pushed together below new map Missouri Republicans passed it in September in response to President Donald Trump’s push. Give Republicans one more winnable seat ahead of next year’s election. Texas answered President Trump’s call First, five seats went to Republicans, but lawmakers from both major parties have been in a state-by-state battle for the middle of the decade to squeeze extra territory from the states they control. California voters approved new house map To support the Democratic Party.
Missouri Republicans targeted Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, chipping away at parts of his Kansas City district and expanding into heavily Republican rural areas.
Congressional districts often A mix of rural and urban areasBut redrawing the boundaries could shift priorities, changing which projects federal representatives pursue and how they pursue things like health care, housing and education funding. When Congress debates the Farm Bill, is protecting food assistance benefits more important than preserving crop insurance? That often depends on who your representatives are.
That may be why Robert Sylvan, 81, of Kansas City, who attends Cleaver’s church, worries that “the whole set of dynamics that affect us” could be upended.
voters fear being forgotten
Despite the deep polarization of American politics, there is bipartisan agreement on Silvan’s claims.
State Rep. Tim Taylor, a Republican who represents the Boonville area in Congress, said he feels Cleaver previously represented farmers who didn’t understand them or didn’t understand them very well.
“Where he lives, things are different than here,” said Taylor, who voted in favor of the redistricting plan despite her concerns.
It’s unclear how the Republicans running against Mr. Cleaver in the redrawn district will balance the needs of the two communities. As of now, there are no leading candidates from Kansas City.
Some Kansas City residents don’t expect No. 18 and those around Vine to get much attention if Cleaver loses. Cleaver grew up in public housing in Texas and preached about social justice as a Methodist minister to a majority African-American congregation.
“Number 18 and Vine, of course, are like his babies,” said Bob Kendrick, director of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. “I don’t want to be forgotten.”
Not just the city and the countryside
Less than 11% of Booneville’s residents are Black, while 18th Ward and Vine are more than 64% Black. Under the new Missouri map, the state could go from having two of the eight House seats held by people of color to one held by a person of color. Non-Hispanic whites make up 62% of Missouri’s population, but they hold 88% of the seats.
“They could be represented by people who don’t interact with people of color and have no idea what’s going on in urban areas,” said Mr. Cleaver’s son, Emanuel Cleaver III.
Common needs often vary by region. What are the pressing issues posed by reducing health care costs? rural hospital Will millions of Americans struggle? I don’t have insurance• Residents of 18th and Vine are nearly twice as likely to have no health insurance than residents of Booneville. Booneville has been without a hospital since 2020.
Other differences: Buses stop every 15 minutes at 18th and Vine, but you must reserve in advance at Boonville. While Kansas City leaders want stricter gun laws to combat violence, Republicans like Taylor are fighting to expand gun rights. Mr. Trump received 18th place and Mr. Vine received 14% of the vote, compared to Mr. Booneville’s 67%.
The Kansas City area, famous for its barbecue and jazz joints, hosted the 1920 meeting to found the Negro National League, where Robinson got his start. Afterwards, the area fell into disrepair.
Mr. Cleaver helped change that by pushing taxpayer dollars to the cities of 18th and Vine since 1989, first as a city councilman and then as mayor before spending 20 years on the council. With the help of federal grants, the city’s expenditures exceeded $100 million. Most recently, Mr. Cleaver helped secure $15.5 million in federal funding to renovate the nation’s oldest black-owned housing cooperative, which he called “one of the citadels of the African American community.”
The project follows Cleaver’s efforts to bring funding to neighborhoods on the historically black side of Troost Street, long known as the city’s unofficial racial dividing line. It now forms one of the boundaries of his new district. I think he’s outrageous.
“I’m more skeptical about the direction of society than I was when I was a kid growing up in public housing,” Cleaver lamented in an interview at the church where her son now leads.
Today, 18th and Vine is also home to all-night jazz jam sessions, a dance company, an arts center, and the MLB Urban Youth Academy. Kendrick’s museum hopes to raise $35 million to triple its exhibition space.
If there is any fear among local residents, it’s that taxpayers’ money contributing to the transformation of the area will be offset by prices. The city is proceeding with the development of a pedestrian plaza and parking lot. Local authorities are considering extending the tram line. Although there is no cost estimate yet, the latest streetcar extension received $174 million in federal funds.
Carmaretta Williams, executive director of the Mid-America Black Archive, a community museum in Kansas City, has questions about the new representatives. “Will they see value in what’s going on?”
Bike path brings tourists to Booneville
Booneville is surrounded by row crops and cattle ranches. Local school districts graduate fewer than 10 students each year.
Still, the Katy Trail attracts tourists. At 240 miles (386 kilometers), it is the longest trail built on a former railroad line in the United States, and construction began around the same time as the reconstruction of 18th and Vine Streets.
Taylor said after the first section of the trail opened in 1990, it helped revive a town that “almost died” when he was a teenager in the 1980s. His wife owns Taylor’s Bake Shop & Espresso downtown.
Bikers heading to Boonville bypass the original path of the railroad and cross the Missouri River on a highway bridge with a designated bike path. The trail leaves a railroad bridge built in 1932 that trail riders hope will be renovated. The city unsuccessfully applied for a $236,000 federal planning grant last year.
“Katy Bridge is like Missouri’s Eiffel Tower, if it could be restored,” said Annie Harmon, owner of Celestial Body, a store in downtown Booneville that sells essential oils, herbs, tie-dyed clothing and crystals.
Over the years, Missouri has received $30 million in federal funding for the Katy Trail and related trail projects that bicyclists hope will cover about 450 miles (724 kilometers), said Brandi Horton, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based nonprofit Rails to Trails Conservancy.
“Trail development on this scale would not be possible without the funding and investment that the federal government is uniquely able to provide,” Horton said.
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Hannah reported from Topeka, Kansas.
