After 30-hour filibuster, Missouri Senate still stalled on a congressional map

Sen. Denny Hoskins read song lyrics from Garth Brooks, Carly Rae Jepsen and other artists. For about 90 minutes.

Sen. Bob Onder recited Thomas Paine. Sen. Rick Brattin read from The Babylon Bee, the satirical conservative news site. Earlier there was a tribute to Jim the Wonder Dog, the Marshall, Mo. Llewellin Setter of the 1930s who could reportedly predict the future and obey commands in Morse Code.

After 30 hours of debate and filibuster by hard-right members seeking a gerrymandered congressional map, the Missouri Senate abruptly adjourned early Wednesday morning. When they return at noon, senators will be largely where they started on Monday afternoon — with no agreement on congressional redistricting.

The issue has eaten up time to discuss other bills, after the General Assembly already lost two days to a snowstorm last week. No other legislation has been debated on the Senate floor this session.

Republican leaders are trying to pass a map likely to maintain the current balance of six Republicans and two Democrats. But a group of hardline GOP senators, called the Conservative Caucus, have insisted legislators pass a 7-1 map.

To do that would require gerrymandering Kansas City’s heavily Democratic 5th District, represented by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, and splitting urban and suburban parts of the metro area into rural districts.

A compromise 6-2 measure, put forward by Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, a Columbia Republican, passed 22 to 5 in a test vote just before 5 p.m. Tuesday. The vote on the plan, which would strengthen GOP control of the 2nd Congressional District in suburban St. Louis, represented by Rep. Ann Wagner, signaled a possible breakthrough. But it was withdrawn, over an apparent drafting issue.

For most of the night, Senators returned to debating the 6-2 map that the House passed three weeks ago, with no changes immediately on the table.

Though audibly tired, Conservative Caucus members insisted they would continue to hold the floor to try to force GOP leadership to negotiate on a 7-1 configuration, claiming it was demanded by their constituents. They cited Democratic gerrymandering in Illinois and New York, as well as a potential Republican veto override in Kansas to bolster GOP seats there, as reason to continue their efforts.

Sen. Bob Onder, a Lake St. Louis Republican, forced sleepless senators to respond to quorum calls and return to the floor.

For about an hour and a half, Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican, read song lyrics apparently submitted to him by supporters as “motivation” for dragging out the debate.

“Respectfully, I was not entertained,” Sen. Eric Burlison, a Battlefield Republican, said of Hoskins’ performance, before proceeding to read from a book by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.

Burlison, a congressional candidate, argued that Missouri should send an additional Republican to Washington to help resist the Biden administration’s moves toward stricter gun control. He said he was still receiving emails from supporters of a 7-1 map and expressed frustration that Senators had been debating so long.

The adjournment, called by Rowden early Wednesday morning, could be an indication that patience with the Conservative Caucus is flagging.

Rank-and file Republicans have balked at the 7-1 proposal, citing the state constitution’s provisions that districts remain “compact” and “contiguous” and concerns that those GOP districts would contain so many displaced Democratic voters that the seats could flip in future elections.

The caucus, which has clashed frequently with leadership and fellow Republicans, staked out the congressional map this year as a top priority.

The Senate defeated an early attempt by the caucus to pass a 7-1 map, which would have split Kansas City from the rest of Jackson County, on Monday night. That effort was rejected 24-8.

Democrats have said a 5-3 map would be fairer, based on the state’s presidential election results in 2020. But Kansas City Democrats are likely to settle on a 6-2 scheme that largely keeps the metro intact in one district.

St. Louis Democrats have continued to push for changes in eastern Missouri, including boosting minority representation in the 1st Congressional District held by U.S. Rep. Cori Bush.