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109th Lineup: 5 R, 4 D
108th Lineup: 5 R, 4 D
District Map: Click here

Missouri did not lose any seats in the 2000 Census, and control of redistricting was split between the parties: Democrats held the governorship and had a majority in the state House; Republicans, by winning two special elections in January 2001, had an 18-16 margin in the state Senate. The main problem was how to adjust for the declining population of St. Louis. Back in 1950 the city of St. Louis had 856,000 people, enough for almost three congressional districts; in 2000 it had 348,000 people, not enough for half a district. But it is heavily Democratic, and in early 2001 1st District Congressman William Lacy Clay was demanding more of the city, to keep the black percentage in his district well above 50%. That was resisted by 3d District Congressman Dick Gephardt, who didn't want his district moved farther out into Republican suburbs. Privately some Gephardt aides worried that Clay would persuade black House Democrats to make a deal with Republicans. But Gephardt, as House minority leader and as onetime boss of Governor Bob Holden, had leverage; Holden could be counted on to veto such a deal. On April 23 Gephardt and Clay met at the St. Louis Labor Central headquarters and made a deal; the city would be divided roughly along I-44. Some black legislators grumbled, but Clay assured them the new 1st District could be counted on to elect a black.

In early May, Democrats passed a plan in the House which protected all incumbents and pretty well followed the Gephardt-Clay deal. In Senate committee Republicans prepared a plan that would have given Gephardt a much more Republican district, but Democrats filibustered to keep it from the floor. A phalanx of Gephardt aides, "the machine," was busy lobbying through all this. On May 11, with "the machine" and representatives of all nine incumbents present, a deal was reached. Gephardt got the agreed on portion of St. Louis and the close-in, increasingly Democratic suburbs of Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Clayton and University City. Clay got the increasingly black northern suburbs of Florissant, Hazelwood, Bridgeton and St. Ann plus affluent Creve Coeur and Ladue. Republican Todd Akin of the 2d District lost all those areas and got Sunset Hills, Sappington and Concord from Gephardt's old district and new territory in suburban St. Charles and rural Lincoln Counties. Akin was the only incumbent who didn't like the plan, and but said he wouldn't challenge it in court. It passed the House 117-37 and the Senate 28-5 in May and was signed by Holden June 1. Some Republicans complained that it did not make the 3d District more Republican. But otherwise it was a success for Republicans, especially considering that their sole leverage was an 18-16 margin in the state Senate. They have a 5-4 lead in the delegation, and it is generally agreed that the 4th District, safe for conservative Democrat Ike Skelton, will probably elect a Republican when he retires.