CNN  — 

In the 2016 general election, Donald Trump won Missouri with 56.77% of the vote, compared with Hillary Clinton’s 38.14%. Until 2008, Missouri had been one of the nation’s most reliable bellwethers in presidential politics. From 1904 to 2004, it voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election except 1956, when it chose Democrat Adlai Stevenson over Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. The state legislature is controlled by Republicans, as is the governor’s office. Both of the state’s US senators are Republicans, while the US House representation comprises two Democrats and six Republicans. Missouri’s Democratic base is in the state’s urban centers of St. Louis and Kansas City. Republicans can usually rely on strong support from the more rural central portion of the state, which includes Springfield and Jefferson City, the state capital. Close statewide races are ordinarily won or lost in the St. Louis suburbs, which are home to a large number of working-class and wealthier middle-class voters who often swing between the parties.