Only one Republican in both houses of the legislature voted to uphold the governor’s veto of a congressinoal redistricting map this week. Senator Bill Stouffer lives in central Missouri’s Saline County, a rural county that will now be represented by a former Mayor of Kansas City, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. Saline is the easternmost of the three rural counties attached to Cleaver’s home area of Kansas City.

The three rural counties in the new Fifth Congressional District constitute only about ten percent of the votes that will be cast in that district. He doesn’t think Congressman Cleaver will spend much time in the three rural counties.

Stouffer says there were about 15 minutes one night when Saline County was in the new rural fourth district. He says he would have opposed that plan because it would have pitted one of the counties in his senatorial district against two others.

 Listen to the Stouffer interview 3:36 mp3