Missouri redistricting

Advocacy group People Not Politicians has until mid-December to collect more than 100,000 signatures across six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. The lawsuit may help decide whether 90,000 collected in September and early October are valid.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said the Missouri Constitution is clear that redistricting can only be done after a certified census, while the defense said nothing prohibits mid-decade redistricting.

Barring legal intervention, it’s looking more likely that Missourians will vote on the GOP's congressional map — meaning it could well not take effect for the 2026 election cycle.

The GOP official recently returned to public office after a nearly 20-year layoff. She’ll be handling major litigation involving abortion and congressional redistricting.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is arguing that the referendum is usurping the legislature’s power to redraw congressional districts.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, said any signatures gathered before Wednesday to place a new congressional map up for a vote won’t count. Proponents of the redistricting referendum said that’s an unlawful attempt to shorten the signature-gathering window.

Fred Wellman is the host of the On Democracy podcast, which has been critical of the Republican Party's gravitation to Donald Trump.

The Democratic National Committee on Monday announced it will send people and money to help a referendum effort aimed at blocking a new congressional map from going into effect.

The new map breaks the Kansas-City-based district of Democrat Emmanuel Cleaver into three in an effort to make it more Republican-leaning.

In the bill text detailing Missouri's new congressional maps, one Kansas City precinct appears to be included in both the 4th and 5th districts. That would mean those voters would get to vote for two representatives in Congress. Gov. Mike Kehoe disputed that the voters have been allocated to two districts.