Senator Bob Onder (R-St. Charles County) joined Christina Bobb on OAN this week to discuss the latest on the Missouri redistricting map.
Late this week Senator Onder and others filibustered the Missouri RINO attempt to hand Democrats a huge victory in this deep red state.
We reached out to Senator Onder this is what he told us.
As you know, every 10 years there is a Census and congressional district lines are re-drawn. The Biden Administration was slow to get states the numbers (“because of COVID”), and they weren’t available this year until August. Most states’ governors called special sessions for redistricting, but Governor Parson refused to do so.
So the congressional redistricting bills, which go through the legislature and get signed by the Governor just like any other bill, were introduced in early January 2022. But before the session even began, on December 31, 2021, Representative Dan Shaul and Senator Mike Bernskoetter sent out a press release and a copy of their proposed redistricting map. The House and Senate Redistricting Committees had not even met for the first time, and already they had a proposed map. I called both of these legislators to protest — first of all because their map was awful, but also because they were advocating a map with almost no input from committee members or the public.
I say that the map is awful, because it is clearly not a 7-1 map. It definitely preserves both Cori Bush’s seat in CD 1 and Emanuel Cleaver’s seat in CD 5. But it also leaves CD 2, now help by Ann Wagner, dangerously purple. I texted you recent election results based on the Shaul/HB 2117 CD 2: Trump received only 51.62% of the vote in 2020, Hawley 49.67% in 2018, Blunt 50.05% in 2016. And given the trends in St. Louis County, the GOP would likely lose this seat over the next 2 or 3 election cycles. So I have called this map a 5-3 map or the #PelosiMap.
The map proposed has been essentially rubber-stamped (in the form of Shaul’s HB 2117) first by the House Redistricting Committee, then by the full House on January 19th, and then by the Senate Redistricting Committee on January 25th. On the 25th there were 2 1/2 hours of testimony against the the Shaul map, including by Missouri Right to Life, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, a pro-A2 organization, and concerned citizens. Despite that, and the objections of Senators Hoskins, Eigel, and myself, it was voted out the same day. The plan was to pass HB 2117 the next day, Wednesday 1/26, but a filibuster by the Senate Conservative Caucus derailed those plans. It will likely be back on the floor on Monday.
I sent you some of my notes on the role of Palm Strategies, a consulting firm that since the 2020 cycle has received about $500,000 from Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer. 3 Palm employees now work for Republican Floor Leader Caleb Rowden, a strong proponent of the Pelosi Map, and it is they, especially Matt Thompson, who drew the map.
This ought to concern every Trump supporter and conservative voter in Missouri and beyond.
The crucial votes are coming up this week.
Via Christina Bobb at One America News interviewed Senator Onder this week.