Rep. Luetkemeyer now serves new district

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer

The start of the 2013 session of Congress last Thursday marked the official end of the Ninth Congressional District and it created 400,000 new constituents for Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth.

After the 2010 U.S. Census, Missouri lost one congressional district because the state's population growth was slower than other areas of the nation. Missouri now has eight members in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Missouri's loss of one district in Congress meant a drastic redrawing of the state's congressional district lines but Callaway and many other Central Missouri counties are included in Luetkemeyer's new district.

Luetkemeyer's new Third Congressional District has about 750,000 people and now is much different. His district now includes more of the St. Louis area and none of Northeast Missouri.

About 400,000 people are new to his district. But Luetkemeyer is pleased that his new district still includes much of Central Missouri. One big Mid-Missouri change caused by redistricting was the shift of Cole and Boone counties to new districts.

Cole County was added to Luetkemeyer's new Third District from the Fourth District now represented by Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville. Boone County was shifted from Luetkemeyer's district to Hartzler's district.

The new Third Congressional District extends to Missouri's eastern border and includes a larger portion of St. Charles County near St. Louis.

Luetkemeyer's new Third District now includes the counties of Callaway, Cole, Montgomery, Camden, Maries, Miller, Osage, Gasconade, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Warren, and St. Charles.

The new counties to his district are Cole, Lincoln and about one-half of the populous Jefferson County near St. Louis.

Luetkemeyer's old Ninth District stretched north to the Iowa border and included most of northeast Missouri.

"I will no longer represent the counties of Adair, Audrain, Boone, Clark, Crawford, Knox, Lewis, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Pike, Randolph, Ralls, Scotland and Shelby," Luetkemeyer said.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.