A Missouri circuit court today ruled against a group of citizens hoping to overturn the Show-Me State’s Congressional redistricting maps on the grounds that they did not meet state constitutional muster.
That’s bad news for Rep. Russ Carnahan, whose current district was essentially eliminated in last year’s redraw. The new map puts him in the same district as fellow Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay, setting up the potential of a Member-vs.-Member race.
Carnahan, a four-term Congressman, supported the plaintiffs’ case and had hoped for a court to draw him a new district where he could comfortably run.
The plaintiffs argued that the new lines, passed over the Democratic governor’s veto, did not meet the state constitutional requirement for compactness. The circuit court had earlier dismissed the case but the state Supreme Court ordered the lower court to look at the merits of the compactness claim more closely. The court did that over the course of a short trial and, today, the judge tartly decided not to rule in the plaintiffs’ favor. Full story
