In the House, four African-American Democrats, two from St. Louis and two from Kansas City, joined every Republican in approving the override in a 109-44 vote that then sent the bill to the Senate. House Republicans needed to pick up at least four Democrats to reach the two-thirds majority they needed to override Nixon's veto. Rep. Michael Brown, D-Kansas City, who voted with the Republicans, said he was concerned with the response from his party but said he voted to override the veto to protect his congressman -- Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver... Democratic Floor Leader Rep. Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, said the map was designed by Republicans to target Carnahan... "The question becomes, and this is why people are upset, are you going to vote as a Democrat to keep Democrats in Congress, or are you going to vote to let somebody be eliminated and have less Democrats in the state and have a 6-2 map." ...Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, said the four Democratic votes, all of which came from black members of the caucus, should come as a sign that black Democrats deserve more recognition from their party... "At the end of the day we are in lock step with them, we vote 99.9 percent Democrat, but there is no return on the vote."Divide and conquer.
and with this, MO Republicans go from a 2-1 advantage to a 3-1 advantage in the House (very likely 6 seats to 2; was six seats to 3)
The Repubs just had to promise that none of the black dems' districts would be touched.