Missouri's 8th Congressional District - Redistricting

Redistricting

Missouri lost one of its nine congressional district seats following redistricting based on numbers from the 2010 U.S. Census. The Republican-controlled state legislature decided to carve up Missouri's 3rd Congressional District, the seat currently held by U.S. Representative Russ Carnahan (D-St. Louis). The district includes all of Ste. Genevieve and Jefferson counties and southern St. Louis County and what is known as South City. Missouri’s 8th Congressional District will only lose its Taney County parts (which will now be included in the Southwestern-based 7th Congressional District, and will pick up all of Crawford and Ste. Genevieve counties and most of the southern and western rural parts of Jefferson County. Parts of Jefferson County that will now be included in Missouri’s 8th are all of the cities of Hillsboro and De Soto, and the southern halves of the Twin Cities of Festus and Crystal City (the northern halves will now be a part of the new 2nd Congressional District). The new district will become slightly more Democratic but will still maintain its Republican strength; John McCain would have carried the new 8th Congressional District with 60 percent of the vote as opposed to in the old district, which he won with 62 percent of the vote.