JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Senators frustrated over new Missouri Senate districts have blocked efforts to delay candidate filing.
Filing for this year's elections starts Tuesday and ends March 27. Lawmakers have considered pushing filing back to buy additional time while legislative districts are finalized. The bill would delay filing period by a month. The House voted Thursday to delay filing, but the measure did not reach a vote in the Senate.
A bipartisan state redistricting commission reached a tentative deal for new Missouri Senate boundaries on Thursday, hours before the debate on the bill in the Senate. Several St. Louis-area Republican senators objected to that plan during the debate.
Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, is sponsoring the candidate filing measure. He says more time is needed to analyze the new map and senators still could move next week to delay candidate filing.
