JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Democrat Emmanuel Cleaver warned Missouri lawmakers Thursday in the face of those trying to banish him from his office. Rezoning plan Supported by President Donald Trump is reopening the decades-old racial sector of Kansas City.
Cleaver, in his acceptance, flew from the Capitol to the Missouri Capitol. Dramatically reshaping his Kansas City area To give the GOP a better shot to win another seat in next year’s election. The Missouri Senate is expected to finalize the plan on Friday.
The stakes are high as Democrats need to win just three seats to control American homes, and Trump is trying to stop the historic trend of the president’s party losing seats in the midterm elections.
After serving as Kansas City’s first black mayor, Cleaver, who has been on the council for more than 20 years, denounced a plan to change districts to use Trostore Avenue as a division line. Instead of being completely trapped in the Cleaver area, some residents west of the street will be moved to a district owned by Republican US Rep. Mark Alford.
“The line below Trust – you can’t explain. There’s no word to tell you how damaging it is,” Cleaver told the state Senate committee.
The Republican-led state capitol passed the revised district on Tuesday. Special session He was called by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe. The Senate committee approved the plan Thursday, just hours after Cleaver testified against it. Republican senators changed the Chamber of Commerce rules and reported on the Senate vote as soon as possible, ignoring democratic objections.
Trump took them with him by posting on his social media site on Wednesday. “The Missouri Senator must keep this map straight and bring a huge national victory by ‘showing me’ to Republicans. I often look at it. ”
Cleaver said Missouri’s Congressional delegation has a history of bipartisan cooperation and meets monthly under the leadership of Republican US Rep. Sam Graves. However, Cleaver said cooperation is at risk due to the promotion of rezoning. Republican-led Texas and Democracy-led California It also took steps to redraw the Congress map.
“I want to warn all of us that if you fight fire with fire, all you’ll leave is ashes,” Cleaver told the Missouri Senator.
Cleaver later reaffirmed to reporters that he was planning to seek reelection next year, regardless of the shape of his district. The Kansas City area that Cleaver represents will lose blacks and a few voters under a plan to tilt it towards the Republican Party. Other neighborhoods still support Republicans, but are more politically competitive.
Republicans currently own six of the eight US house seats in Missouri. Cleaver said the revised district could backfire Republicans by giving Democrats the opportunity to win these five seats.
When they originally redeemed after the 2020 census, some Missouri Republicans raised similar concerns while refusing to do more aggressive maps. But Republican Sen. Rick Brattin pointed to GOP management in most local Missouri governments, arguing that a map that allows Republicans to win seven seats provides “the correct representation of Missouri.”
