Missouri’s 1st Congressional District has been the state’s center of Black political representation for nearly six decades.
Before 1967, the district extended beyond St. Louis into rural Missouri. After the U.S. Supreme Court required congressional districts to contain roughly equal populations, Missouri lawmakers redrew the map and concentrated the district in St. Louis and parts of North St. Louis County.
The new boundaries reflected demographic shifts already underway and created a district where Black voters held greater political influence. In 1968, civil rights activist and St. Louis alderman William L. Clay Sr. became Missouri’s first Black member of Congress.
The district has remained Missouri’s strongest Democratic congressional seat ever since. Clay represented it for 32 years, followed by his son, William Lacy Clay Jr. More recently, voters elected Cori Bush and Wesley Bell.
Although the boundaries have changed slightly over time, the district’s identity as a St. Louis-based center of Black political influence has remained largely intact since the late 1960s.