Missouri’s tentative new map for state senate districts was unveiled by a commission of judges this week, and the new boundaries set Warren County up for a potentially awkward adjustment: No current state elected officials from this area live within the new senate boundary that contains Warren County.

Where once Warren County shared the 10th Senate District with several similarly sized counties to the west, our area has now been shifted into the orbit of District 26 and Franklin County, south across the Missouri River. With more than double the population of Warren, Franklin County forms the central mass of population for the 26th District, which also includes Gasconade and Osage counties.

The new senate district alignment removes almost any chance that a more familiar elected official will represent Warren County in the Missouri Senate. The current candidates for election in District 26 are all from Franklin County (two from Washington, one from St. Clair), according to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.

For a brief moment in time, it seemed possible that former House Rep. Bryan Spencer could be Warren County’s representative in the senate. Spencer was the house rep for Wright City and Wentzville until he was term limited in 2020, and had already announced that he would seek the District 10 senate seat when Warren County was still part of that district. The new District 10 boundary scoops Wentzville out of St. Charles County, then wraps around the northern edge of Warren County to include Lincoln, Montgomery, and two other counties.

Spencer said this week that he plans to stay with the 10th District to seek election in the senate (requiring a change of residence in the process).

“The 10th is the best spot for me,” Spencer commented, saying that he has a number of personal and family connections in Wentzville and in Lincoln County.

However, Spencer said his ties to Warren County will remain firm even if he’s elected to an outside district, and that he would continue to include Warren County’s interests in his work.

“Even though Warren County is not in the 10th District, that doesn’t mean I can’t take care of them also,” Spencer said. “This is all my area, even if they chopped it up in two pieces and sent Warren County south.”

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of Warren County, current State House Rep. Jeff Porter is faced with a political dilemma. His current house district, District 42, has shifted to include all of Warren County, but not the western portion of Montgomery County where Porter lives. While he could move toward Warren County and continue to represent this area, Porter told The Record this week that he is signing up to run for the senate in the same 10th District that Spencer is running for.

If elected to the state senate, Porter said that he, too, would keep Warren County’s interests in mind.

“I’m indebted to the people of Warren County for all their support, and I will continue to support them,” Porter said. “If I do become senator down the road, I will continue to work for Warren County because of what they gave me during my four years as state rep.”

With Porter running for the senate, Warren County will be bereft of a familiar face in both legislative houses. Even Richard West, the current state rep for the Wright City and Wentzville areas, will say goodbye to Warren County in the next election cycle. The new house map has shifted West’s New Melle home into a district that contains only southwest St. Charles County, and West has already filed to run in that district.

Porter said he believes that a capable candidate from Warren County will step up to seek the House District 42 position in this year's election. Porter commented that he will be happy to help a successor become familiar with state government during the runup to the elections.