Updated on Sunday at 4:50 p.m. with a new letter from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins about the referendum proposal.
The Missouri Senate finished off a bitter and consequential special session on Friday by passing a new congressional map aimed at ousting U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, and a proposal that could make it much harder to pass some constitutional amendments.
But both of Gov. Mike Kehoe’s special session agenda items, which passed only after Republicans cut off a Democratic filibuster, may never go into effect – especially after a group announced it will gather signatures to place the new map up for a statewide vote.
Senators voted 21-11 to pass redrawn congressional lines aimed at converting Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district into a GOP-leaning seat.
They also approved a proposal, which needs statewide approval, that would require any constitutional amendment placed before voters through the initiative petition process to pass statewide and in all eight congressional districts. It would not affect statutory initiative petitions or amendments the legislature puts before voters.
“The Missouri FIRST Map has officially passed the Missouri Senate and is now headed to my desk, where we will review the legislation and sign it into law soon,” Kehoe said in a statement. “The legislature also passed critically needed IP reform, giving Missouri voters the chance to protect our Constitution at the ballot box.”
The redistricting proposal is a massive reversal from just three years ago, when the GOP-majority legislature rejected a map that went after Cleaver. At that time, Republicans feared that transforming Cleaver’s 5th District would make Reps. Mark Alford and Sam Graves vulnerable in Democratic wave elections.
But Republican lawmakers changed their tune after President Donald Trump began pressuring GOP-led states like Missouri, Texas, Indiana and Florida to pass new district lines before the 2026 midterm elections. Trump called Missouri Republican senators earlier this week to prod them to pass the new map. And he released a congratulatory statement on Truth Social after the vote.
Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, said Trump played a major role in getting the map across the finish line.
“We all support him and we all want to send a strong Republican Congress back,” O’Laughlin said. “So anything that we can do to be sure that Republicans have as many members as they can, we want to do it.”
Republicans hold a small majority in the U.S. House, and the president’s party often does poorly in midterm elections. Some lawmakers made no secret that the goal of their redistricting push is to prevent the Democrats from retaking the House next year. Others, like Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, said on Thursday that GOP senators should have backed a map with seven Republican districts and one Democratic seat in 2022.
“I'm just glad that now we're going and rectifying what I believe was the wrong decision to do a 6-2 map,” said Brattin, referring to the current map that has two safe Democratic seats including St. Louis. “And now, we’re doing what was a right representation of the state of Missouri.”
Before Republicans used a maneuver known as a previous question motion to shut off debate, Democrats assailed their GOP colleagues for succumbing to pressure from Trump – even though the new map may backfire during Democratic wave elections.
“This was never a thing that would happen when George Bush was president,” said Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia. “Not a thing that happened when Reagan was president. This is uncharted. I have never in my life seen a president of the United States … giving orders to a legislature and explicitly saying, ‘Do it this way, word for word this way.’”
Democrats also said the Missouri Constitution doesn’t authorize mid-decade redistricting and added that there’s no way for the new map to adhere to equal population standards since it uses outdated census data.
Others questioned whether adding largely white suburbs to the 1st Congressional District, currently held by Rep. Wesley Bell, D-St. Louis County, dilutes its African American population enough to trigger a Voting Rights Act violation. And Cleaver also said it was troubling that Troost Avenue was used as the line between the 4th and 5th Districts – since that street divided Kansas City’s Black and white communities.
“Anybody who knows anything about that community would never choose to bring back that Mason Dixon Line,” said Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City. “Unfortunately, this map that came from Washington, D.C., does just that. It splits up that community.”
In a scathing speech, Sen. Barbara Washington said the redistricting plan shows disdain for the state’s largest city. The Kansas City Democrat condemned Republicans for targeting one of the state’s economic hubs, and questioned whether that city will be able to get as many resources under the new map.
“I will say that it has begun to look like one side is representing the interests of the people and the voices of the people, and another side is representing the interest of power because they want to be in power more than they want to help their communities,” Washington said.
Soon after the map passed, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Missouri and the Campaign Legal Center announced they had filed a lawsuit contending that the new map violates compactness and equal population requirements in the state constitution.
It also states that “no provision of the Missouri Constitution authorizes congressional redistricting at any other point during the decade.”
“If our communities are needlessly split by these new lines, we would no longer see our strong values reflected in the priorities of our congressional representatives,” plaintiff and Missouri Workers Center leader Terrence Wise said in a statement.
Jefferson City attorney Chuck Hatfield also filed a lawsuit on behalf of four plaintiffs in Cole County Court to try to have the map struck down. His suit focuses on the contention that Missouri doesn’t authorize redistricting in the middle of the decade.
Redistricting backers say that even though the Missouri Constitution doesn’t specifically authorize mid-decade redistricting, it doesn’t specifically bar it.
Cleaver has also promised to file a lawsuit seeking to have a judge to throw out the new congressional district lines. He said in a statement Friday he was disappointed that lawmakers didn’t listen to voters who came to the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the new map.
“However, I want to be very clear to those who are frustrated by today’s outcome: this fight is far from over,” Cleaver said. “Together, in the courts and in the streets, we will continue pushing to ensure the law is upheld, justice prevails, and this unconstitutional gerrymander is defeated.”
Group announces referendum effort
Missouri voters may have the final call on whether the map goes into effect.
On Friday afternoon, a group called People Not Politicians announced it plans to collect the more than 100,000 signatures needed in six out of eight congressional districts to place the new map up for a statewide vote. If it turns in enough signatures in 90 days, the map cannot go into effect unless Missourians approve it.
“While politicians scheme behind closed doors, People Not Politicians is taking action,” said the group’s spokeswoman, Elsa Rainey. “Given the groundswell of outrage across the state, we are confident the people will rise to meet this moment. This fight is not over. Missouri voters — not politicians — will have the final say.”
After initially rejecting the referendum on Friday because Kehoe hadn’t signed the redistricting bill into law, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ office sent a letter to People NOT Politicians’ Richard Von Glahn on Sunday stating that he’s sending the proposal to the attorney general’s office for review.
“Only after the Attorney General has rendered an opinion on legal sufficiency and the Secretary of State has reviewed those comments can this office make a final determination regarding the approval or rejection of the form of the petition,” the letter states. “Because that statutory review process is still pending, the Secretary of State has not yet made a final determination whether your referendum petition may be accepted for processing or circulation. Your submission has been formally transmitted to the Attorney General in accordance with [state law] and the statutory timeline for review is now running.”
Hatfield, who serves as an attorney for People NOT Politicians, said the letter means that the petition drive can go forward – though he said that there could be legal battles ahead.
“And then I think what's going to happen is there may be a lawsuit later about whether the signatures that we gather before the governor signs can count,” Hatfield. “And happy to have that discussion in court at the appropriate time.”
While redistricting opponents have a tight time frame to gather signatures, Democratic groups may have an incentive to help fund the campaign to place the map up for a vote. That’s because the statewide vote could occur beyond a point when it could go into effect for the 2026 election cycle. And that would mean that Cleaver would almost certainly win reelection under the current 5th District lines and that U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, may be more vulnerable to a strong Democratic challenger than under the revised map.
If the map does end up going into effect, high-level Democrats are already seeking out candidates to take on Alford and Graves. A Democratic Party source told St. Louis Public Radio that Democratic leaders in the U.S. House called former Kansas City Councilwoman and state Sen. Jolie Justus to run against Alford and former Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo to take on Graves.
“Everyday Americans are struggling to afford the high cost of living, but Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican sycophants have chosen instead to cheat,” U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement. “We will fight the rigged congressional map and Republicans will pay an electoral price next November. The people of Missouri will have the last word.”
Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, D-Affton, said it’s unclear if officials in the Trump administration knew it was possible to put the map up for a statewide vote.
“Quite frankly, many of them probably don't know what a referendum is,” Beck said.
O’Laughlin knew beforehand that it would be possible the map could be subject to a referendum and potentially not go into effect before the 2026 election.
“Everything we do is risky,” O’Laughlin said. “So if we didn't do the things that we feel are good for Missourians because we thought there might be a challenge … we would never do anything.”
High-powered groups plan to fight initiative petition curbs
Missouri Republicans had spent well over a decade trying to make constitutional amendments harder to pass. But the legislature couldn’t agree to adopt a proposal to send to voters, including a measure in 2025 that would have required amendments to pass in a statewide vote and in five of the eight congressional districts.
Backers of the new plan say the amendments need broad consensus if they’re going to be adopted into the constitution. It comes after Missouri voters backed left-of-center initiatives to protect abortion rights, legalize marijuana, expand Medicaid and authorize sports betting.
“This is going to protect rural Missouri. Obviously, it's going to protect the urban areas as well,” said Sen. Brad Hudson, R-Cape Fair. “You've got to have that broad consensus throughout the entire state of Missouri to amend the Constitution.”
But Democrats were especially critical of how amendments lawmakers place on the ballot would need only a simple majority to pass. They said this would greatly weaken the power of Missourians to circumvent the legislature, especially since lawmakers in recent years have overturned statutory ballot items such as paid sick leave requirements and restrictions on dog breeding facilities.
“The entire session was held because Republicans are scared,” Beck said. “They're scared of answering questions about their unpopular agenda. They're scared of Missourians having power at the ballot box. They are scared of mean tweets from Donald Trump.”
Some deep-pocketed and well-organized groups could work to defeat the ballot measure at the polls. The Missouri Association of Realtors was prepared to spend millions of dollars to defeat the 2024 proposal.
And Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel said members of labor unions are incensed about the latest one.
“They were exceptionally angry,” Hummel said. “My phone's been ringing off the hook. My emails are constant. And quite frankly, I look forward to calling [the Missouri Association of Realtors] and having a discussion about beating this at the ballot.”
This story has been updated with additional information and reaction.
