The Examiner
2012
Grain Valley City Guide
GOVERNMENT
• Grain Valley state delegation
City’s representation changes with redistricting The redrawing of state legislative districts following the 2010 census means a change in representation for Grain Valley. In the Missouri House, the city currently is in the 55th District, represented by Republican Sheila Solon of Blue Springs. That district has been redrawn in a way that leaves it more concen- Sheila Solon trated in Blue Springs. Solon is running for reelection in that district, which is now the 31st.
The new 32nd District is much like the current 54th, but shifted to the east and south. It takes in almost all of Grain Valley as well as most of Oak Grove, Blue Springs north of Interstate 70 and much the east side of the city south of I-70. Rep. Jeanie Lauer, R-Blue Springs, is running for re-election in the new 32nd. She was unopposed in the Republican primary in August and faces Democrat Sherbaz Jeanie Khan of Kansas City in the November election. Lauer
(Because state officials missed key deadlines to get new districts in place, candidates are allowed to run in districts in which they do not live.) Another new district takes in the southern edge of Grain Valley. It is the 33rd, a north-to-south rectangle that runs from the southeastern corner of Jackson County to the northeastern corner of Cass County, jutting west at the bottom to take in Harrisonville. In addition to a sliver of Grain Valley, it includes a small portion of southeast Blue Springs (the area generally south of Moreland School Road and east of Adams Dairy Parkway), Lake Lotawana east of Missouri, much of
Oak Grove, plus Lone Jack and Pleasant Hill. The only filed candidate is Harrisonville Alderman Donna Pfautsch, a Republican who retired this year after 40 years as a teacher and gifted education facilitator in the Harrisonville School District. The changes are less dramatic in the Missouri Senate. Jackson County is divided among four districts, and Grain Valley remains in the 8th District, represented by Republican Will Kraus of Lee’s Summit. He’s in the middle of his first four-year term, up for re-election in 2014. – Jeff Fox