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During debate Wednesday on a state takeover of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, state Rep. Michael Burton, D-Lakeshire, suggested St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County should break up with Missouri to become the 51st state.

While Burton hasn’t formally filed legislation to that effect, he said he has asked House staff to “put something together to make St. Louis city, St. Louis County and St. Charles County the 51st state of the United States.�

His comments came as President Donald Trump has called for Canada to become the 51st state and has advocated for taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal.

“I agree with President Trump. Maybe we should have a 51st state. I just don’t think it should be Canada,� the legislator told his colleagues on the House floor.

Elsewhere, some rural residents of Illinois and Oregon are promoting geopolitical change of their own: ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ want to break away from their states, perhaps uniting with Indiana and Idaho, respectively.

Proponents say they have more in common with their rural brethren across state lines than they do with urbanites in Chicago and Portland, Oregon.

And they contend the Democratic-led cities have so much clout in state government that rural, Republican voices get drowned out.

The opposite could be argued on behalf of St. Louis residents: that Democratic voices representing the city and county are drowned out in the Republican-dominated capital city.

Burton added “we subsidize your counties,� pointing at the Republican side of the chamber, and said, “Maybe we can just keep all that tax revenue in St. Louis. And could you imagine how great St. Louis would be if we just kept our own tax dollars?�

St. Louis and St. Louis County had over 1.3 million people as of the last census, about one-fifth of the state’s over 6.2 million residents. Including St. Charles County, the three jurisdictions accounted for about 27% of the state’s population in 2020.

Combined, they’d rank 40th by population among all states. By size, though, Burton’s “51st state� would be smaller than any state except Rhode Island.

While the city of St. Louis has strong Democratic leanings, much of St. Louis County votes Republican. And no Democrats represent St. Charles County in the Legislature.

Burton’s comments come as one former state representative, Peter Merideth of south St. Louis, has openly discussed the possibility of a new Civil War as he criticized the state takeover legislation on Facebook this week.

“If we find ourselves in a situation of another Civil War, or having to protect ourselves against an overreaching tyrannical federal government, the question of who is in charge of the police forces in cities is going to matter a whole, whole lot.�

Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, in response to Merideth’s Facebook post, said, “This is the first step in a hostile takeover of the cities. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ want our assets and our economic potential.â€�

And Virvus Jones, the former St. Louis comptroller and father and top ally of the mayor, said recently white Republicans and Democrats “voted to return Stl City to a slave colony patrolled by a state controlled militia.�

While Burton’s idea is unlikely to advance, he does have a reputation for persistence.

In 2018, he was among residents leading the charge to save Tower Tee, the landmark golf and baseball complex in Affton, from a housing development. He spoke at 30 meetings of the St. Louis County Council over a 16-month stretch. He was first elected to the Legislature in November 2020.

Last year, he accused the executive director of the St. Louis County Democratic Central Committee, Jonathan Boesch, of assaulting him at the party’s South County office.

A court hearing in the case has been scheduled for March 25.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.