More than two weeks after it passed the Missouri legislature in a chaotic session, Gov. Mike Kehoe has signed a new congressional map into law.
“We believe this map best represents Missourians,” Kehoe said in a statement released Sunday after an event that was closed to the media. “Missourians are more alike than we are different, and our values, across both sides of the aisle, are closer to each other than those of the congressional representation of states like New York, California and Illinois.”
The map redraws Missouri’s eight congressional districts to make them more winnable by Republicans. The former congressional map contained six safely Republican seats and two safely Democrat seats.
The new map divides the former 5th Congressional District, which encompasses the Kansas City area, into several districts. The map aims to oust current U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver.
Missouri is one of several Republican-led states that have or are considering redrawing their congressional districts mid-decade.
The effort is led by President Donald Trump in an attempt to add Republican House seats in the 2026 midterm election. Historically, the midterm election is worse for the president’s party.
In August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott approved redistricting that could help Republicans win five additional seats there. Republicans in Indiana, Kansas, Florida and elsewhere are considering changing their maps mid-decade.
In response to Texas, California Democrats are asking voters on Nov. 4 to approve redistricting that could help their party win five more seats next year.
The new map is a reversal of the redistricting in Missouri during the 2022 legislative session. Members of the then-conservative caucus argued for a 7-1 map, which Republican leadership said could turn into a 5-3 map in an election with strong Democratic turnout.
The new districts
The new congressional map makes several changes to the Kansas City area:
- The 5th District adds a portion of Kansas City and Jackson County, as well as a number of rural counties. It also takes in a portion of Boone County, as well as Cole County.
- The 4th District, currently represented by Rep. Mark Alford, now includes the eastern part of Kansas City and several Jackson County suburbs. It also includes a number of Kansas City exurban counties, as well as rural counties in southwest Missouri.
- Congressman Sam Graves’ 6th District now includes all of Clay County, which has become a Democratic stronghold. The seat, which takes in most of northern Missouri, is still strongly Republican but could be competitive in a general election if Clay and Platte counties become bluer.
Additionally, St. Charles County is now completely within the 3rd District.
Democrats are prepared to challenge both Alford and Graves since both of them would appear to be more vulnerable in their new districts.
The map is already facing a torrent of legal challenges.
The Missouri NAACP sued before lawmakers even gathered in Jefferson City, questioning whether mid-decade redistricting is considered an “extraordinary occasion” that would warrant the calling of a special session. A judge in Cole County is weighing whether that invalidates everything done during the special session.
The ACLU of Missouri and others sued on behalf of voters in Kansas City, contending the new map violates compactness and equal population requirements in the state constitution. It also argues that one Kansas City voting district is assigned to two congressional districts.
Kehoe and map supporters say the voting district in question contains two distinct geographic areas.
A third lawsuit, filed by Jefferson City attorney Chuck Hatfield on behalf of four residents of Cole County, focuses on the argument that the Missouri Constitution does not mention mid-decade redistricting. Supporters of the effort say the practice is neither outlawed or allowed.
There’s also a possibility that the congressional map doesn’t change.
The group People Not Politicians started gathering signatures to force a statewide vote on the map. They must get more than 106,000 people from six congressional districts to sign petitions by Dec. 11.
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins announced Friday that his office, in consultation with Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, had rejected the petitions the group was using. A spokeswoman said that collection efforts would continue and that the group expected to prevail in court.
If People Not Politicians gathers enough signatures, the map cannot go into effect unless Missourians approve it at the ballot box.
The same tactic was used in 2018 to defeat a right-to-work law passed by Republican legislators.
