Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe stated Friday that he’s calling Missouri lawmakers right into a particular session to redraw the state’s U.S. Home districts as a part of a rising nationwide battle between Republicans and Democrats searching for an edge in subsequent yr’s congressional elections.
Kehoe made the announcement simply hours after Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott signed into legislation a brand new congressional voting map designed to assist Republicans acquire 5 extra seats within the 2026 midterm elections. It marked a win for President Trump, who has been urging Republican-led states to reshape district strains to offer the social gathering a greater shot at retaining management of the Home.
Missouri is the third state to pursue an uncommon mid-decade redistricting for partisan benefit. Republican-led Texas took up the duty first however was shortly countered by Democratic-led California, the place Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking voters to approve a map aimed toward giving his social gathering 5 extra seats.
Jonathan Shorman/The Kansas Metropolis Star/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photographs
Kehoe scheduled Missouri’s particular session to start Sept. 3. He launched a proposed new map that targets Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas Metropolis-area district by stretching it eastward into rural Republican-leaning areas.
His agenda additionally consists of one other Republican precedence — a proposed constitutional modification that may make it more durable to approve citizen-initiated poll measures, corresponding to abortion rights and marijuana legalization amendments adopted lately.
Kehoe forged each objects as a protection in opposition to liberal politicians and activists.
“Missouri’s conservative, common sense values needs to be actually represented in any respect ranges of presidency,” he stated in an announcement.
Missouri’s treasurer and lieutenant governor, each Republicans, have additionally stated beforehand that they favor a brand new map.
“We missed the possibility to safe a 7-1 map in 2022, a mistake President Trump rightly calls on us to repair. Missouri’s subsequent congressional map should defend Missouri values and guarantee our representatives in Congress are as conservative because the voters who ship them,” Lt. Gov. David Wasinger stated in an announcement in July.
In a Fact Social submit, Mr. Trump praised the transfer, saying it “will give the unimaginable individuals of Missouri the great alternative to elect a further MAGA Republican within the 2026 Midterm Elections.”
Democrats had been fast to precise outrage. Missouri state Home Minority Chief Ashley Aune known as Kehoe a “Trump puppet” making an attempt to “steal a congressional seat for Republicans” and intestine the poll initiative course of.
It “marks the worst risk to the integrity of our state authorities since pro-slavery lawmakers voted for Missouri to affix the Confederacy in 1861,” Aune stated in an announcement.
Missouri is represented within the U.S. Home by six Republicans and two Democrats — Cleaver and Rep. Wesley Bell in St. Louis.
Cleaver known as the proposed redistricting an assault on democracy perpetrated by Mr. Trump.
“This try and gerrymander Missouri is not going to merely change district strains, it should silence voices. It should deny illustration,” Cleaver stated in an announcement whereas vowing to not concede the seat.
Missouri Democrats have little skill to forestall Republican lawmakers from enacting a brand new map. In contrast to in Texas, the place Democrats left the state for 2 weeks to delay a vote, Missouri Democrats’ absence wouldn’t forestall a quorum for enterprise. And though Democrats might filibuster within the Senate, Republicans might use procedural maneuvers to close that down, as they did earlier this yr to cross a proposed constitutional modification limiting abortion.
Republicans gained a 220-215 Home majority over Democrats in 2024. Democrats would wish to internet three seats in subsequent yr’s election to take management of the chamber.
Some Missouri Republicans had pushed for a map that might give them a 7-1 edge when redrawing districts after the 2020 census. However the GOP legislative majority in the end opted in opposition to it. Some feared the extra aggressive plan may very well be prone to a authorized problem and will backfire in a poor election yr for Republicans by creating extra aggressive districts that might permit Democrats to win three seats.
Republican officers in Florida, Indiana and elsewhere are also contemplating revising their U.S. Home districts, as are Democratic officers in Illinois, Maryland and New York.
In Utah, a choose not too long ago ordered the Republican-led Legislature to attract new congressional districts after discovering that lawmakers had weakened and ignored an impartial fee established by voters to forestall partisan gerrymandering. Republicans have gained all 4 of Utah’s congressional seats underneath the map accredited by lawmakers in 2021.
