Republicans on a Missouri House committee have easily approved a new redistricting map.
The map eliminates the St. Louis-area congressional district represented by Democrat Russ Carnahan and divides it up among four other districts, three of which are represented by Republicans.
Redistricting Committee Chair John Diehl (R, Town and Country) says the process has been open and fair.
“We’ve had this map out here for going on five days now," Diehl said. "We’ve given the minority party plenty of opportunity to participate and to drop alternatives to this.”
The GOP-dominated committee voted down the alternate map offered by Democrats, which would have preserved most of Carnahan’s district.
House Republicans plan to move the GOP redistricting map to the floor for debate this week, possibly as early as tomorrow.
Missouri is losing a seat in Congress based on figures from the 2010 U.S. Census.
