Only two people testified Tuesday night at the state Senate Redistricting Committee's first public hearing at the Capitol.
Robert Weagley, Columbia, told committee members he attended the University of Missouri "in the early '70s," then moved back in 1984.
"I've watched Columbia grow over the last 26 or 27 years now, and I increasingly recognize Columbia as being a center of influence for the state," Weagley testified.
With northern Missouri losing population while central Missouri generally has grown, he said, "It would be nice to have a representative for central Missouri as opposed to central Missouri being split up and being mixed in with other parts of the state that are, in some sense, very, very different."