Cleaver to fight for political life against Brattin in Missouri House race

Campaign Cleaver to fight for political life against Brattin in Missouri House race Comments: by Max Rego - 08/04/26 9:06 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Max Rego - 08/04/26 9:06 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.) is projected to face off against Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin in Missouri’s 5th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Cleaver ran unopposed in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, while Brattin defeated five other Republicans to capture the party’s nomination.

The GOP nominee has represented Missouri’s 31st district in the state Senate since January 2021. Prior to that, he spent eight years in the state House.

Brattin is the favorite in the general election, as Republicans in the Missouri General Assembly redrew the state’s congressional map last year to make Cleaver’s 5th district more GOP-friendly.

Under the new map, the district stretches from Kansas City into rural Missouri and includes multiple solidly conservative counties. The new district would have backed President Trump by 18 points in the 2024 election, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report (CPR).

Cleaver, the 81-year-old former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, has represented the district since 2005 — making him the second-longest serving member of Missouri’s congressional delegation behind retiring GOP Rep. Sam Graves. A Republican has not represented the 5th district, in fact, since before the Korean War.

If Brattin wins in November and both parties hold on to the state’s seven other congressional districts, Republicans will increase their edge in Missouri from 6-2 to 7-1.

While the CPR rates the Cleaver-Brattin matchup as solidly in the GOP column, the Democratic incumbent said last month he “never panicked” over Missouri’s mid-decade redistricting.

“I have been frustrated because I think that’s doing some enormous damage to the body politic and creating more hostility,” Cleaver told the Columbia Missourian’s Kaleb Anderson. “The worst part is that it tells voters there are people who will do just about anything to win.”

He added, “But it is a process that we have to go through, so I’m ready to go through that process.”

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