Missouri is once again at the center of a heated national debate over redistricting, as Republican Governor Mike Kehoe announced on August 29, 2025, that he was calling a special legislative session to redraw the state’s congressional map and reform the ballot initiative process. The move, set to kick off on September 3, comes in the wake of similar efforts in Texas and California, marking Missouri as the third state to pursue mid-decade redistricting for clear partisan advantage, according to the Associated Press.
Kehoe’s proposed “Missouri First Map” has already set off political fireworks. The plan would significantly reshape the Democratic-held 5th District, represented by longtime Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, by splitting Kansas City—currently entirely within the 5th—into three separate districts. The intended effect? To give Republicans a substantial edge, potentially allowing them to secure 90% of Missouri’s eight U.S. House seats, as reported by The Missouri Independent.
“Missouri’s conservative, common sense values rooted in faith, family and freedom, should be truly represented at all levels of government—local, state and federal, because representation isn’t just about districts and lines on one map,” Kehoe said in a video statement. He also thanked former President Donald Trump for “raising the level of conversation on this matter,” adding, “his leadership on this nationally underscores just how important this moment is for Missouri.”
The timing of Kehoe’s announcement was no accident. It came just hours after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a new congressional map designed to help Republicans gain five more seats in the 2026 midterm elections. Texas was the first to heed Trump’s call for mid-decade redistricting, and California quickly countered with its own plan, backed by Governor Gavin Newsom, to give Democrats an edge. The trend is spreading, with redistricting efforts now underway or under consideration in Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Utah, according to the AP.
Trump himself has been vocal in his support for Missouri’s move. On his social media platform, he declared, “The Great State of Missouri is now IN. I’m not surprised. It is a great State with fabulous people… We’re going to win the Midterms in Missouri again, bigger and better than ever before!” In a subsequent post, he praised Kehoe’s map proposal as “much fairer, and much improved... that will give the incredible people of Missouri the tremendous opportunity to elect an additional MAGA Republican in the 2026 Midterm Elections—A HUGE VICTORY for our America First Agenda, not just in the ‘Show-Me State,’ but across our Nation.”
The special session’s agenda doesn’t stop at redistricting. Kehoe is also pushing for a constitutional amendment to make it harder for voters to change the state constitution through citizen-initiated ballot measures. Under the proposed “concurrent majority” standard, passing a constitutional amendment would require not only a statewide majority but also a majority in five of the state’s eight congressional districts. Analysts at The Missouri Independent found that this could allow as few as 23% of voters to defeat a statewide ballot measure, a change that could have dramatic implications for issues like abortion rights and marijuana legalization, which have succeeded through ballot initiatives in recent years.
Unsurprisingly, Democrats have reacted with outrage. U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, whose district is at the center of the proposed changes, didn’t mince words: “President Trump’s unprecedented directive to redraw our maps in the middle of the decade and without an updated census is not an act of democracy—it is an unconstitutional attack against it. This attempt to gerrymander Missouri will not simply change district lines, it will silence voices. It will deny representation.” Cleaver vowed that he and his constituents would “fight relentlessly to ensure Missouri never becomes an antidemocratic state, where politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives.”
National Democrats echoed Cleaver’s concerns. Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin accused Kehoe of undermining the voices of Missouri voters and “removing the ability of Missourians to stand up against this power grab.” Missouri House Minority Leader Ashley Aune went further, calling Kehoe a “Trump puppet” and charging that the move “marks the worst threat to the integrity of our state government since pro-slavery lawmakers voted for Missouri to join the Confederacy in 1861.”
Inside the statehouse, the battle lines are clear. Republicans hold supermajorities in both legislative chambers, making passage of the new map and initiative petition reforms likely, despite Democratic plans to filibuster in the Senate. As The Missouri Independent reports, Senate Democrats are expected to use every procedural tool at their disposal to delay or block the measures, but Republicans have shown a willingness to use rarely invoked rules to break filibusters, as they did earlier this year.
There are also serious legal questions hanging over the redistricting effort. The Missouri Constitution states that new congressional districts should be drawn every 10 years following the census, which was last completed in 2022. Attorneys Chuck Hatfield and Alix Cossette argue that “the plain language of the Missouri Constitution and the Missouri Supreme Court’s precedent make clear that mid-cycle congressional redistricting is prohibited,” warning that any attempt to do so could face a substantial legal challenge likely to succeed. Kehoe himself acknowledged the legal uncertainty, telling reporters, “I’ve heard opinions on both sides of that conversation. It will get settled in due time.”
Meanwhile, the national context for Missouri’s redistricting push is equally fraught. Republicans narrowly won a 220-215 majority in the U.S. House in 2024, a result that closely mirrored the national popular vote, but both parties benefited from district lines drawn to their advantage in certain states, as detailed by the Associated Press. The incumbent president’s party historically loses seats in midterm elections, and Trump’s allies are determined to avoid a repeat of 2018, when Democrats flipped the House and launched investigations into his administration.
Some Missouri Republicans have long advocated for a 7-1 map favoring the GOP, but after the 2020 census, party leaders opted for the current 6-2 split, fearing that a more aggressive map could backfire or be struck down in court. Now, with Trump’s encouragement and a national Republican push for redistricting, the state’s GOP leadership appears ready to take the risk.
As the special session gets underway, the stakes couldn’t be higher—not just for Missouri, but for the balance of power in Washington. The outcome will shape the state’s political landscape for years to come and could serve as a model, or a cautionary tale, for other states considering similar moves. With supermajorities in the legislature and national attention focused on Jefferson City, the coming weeks promise to be a defining chapter in Missouri’s political history.
Whether the courts will ultimately allow the new map to stand, or whether Democrats can mount an effective resistance, remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure: the battle over Missouri’s congressional districts is just getting started, and its outcome will echo far beyond the state’s borders.
