One of the most contentious Missouri special sessions in recent memory is nearing an end after a Senate committee backed measures Thursday redrawing the state’s congressional lines and constricting the initiative ballot petition process.

A committee hearing Thursday featured impassioned testimony from U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, against the effort to oust him from office and more acrimony in the Senate.

The full Senate is expected to pass both of Gov. Mike Kehoe’s special session agenda items on Friday.

The Senate Committee on Local Government, Elections and Pensions approved a new congressional map 6-2 on Thursday that converts Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district into a GOP-leaning seat. It also placed other parts of Kansas City into the districts of Reps. Mark Alford

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