U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat representing Missouri’s 5th District, made an unusual and impassioned appearance before the Missouri Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee on September 11, 2025, skipping votes in Washington to testify against a controversial redistricting plan. The proposal, which would significantly reshape his Kansas City-based district to favor Republicans, has ignited fierce debate and drawn national attention, especially as President Donald Trump publicly urged Missouri lawmakers to pass the plan swiftly.
Cleaver’s testimony, described by Missouri Independent and other outlets, underscored the high stakes of the redistricting battle. “If we fight fire with fire long enough, all we’ll have left is ashes,” Cleaver warned senators, cautioning that voters would remember politicians who manipulate district lines for partisan gain. He noted that recent redistricting efforts in Texas and California similarly favored the party in power, with Republicans and Democrats, respectively, using their legislative majorities to redraw maps to their advantage.
The committee, however, appeared unmoved by Cleaver’s plea. Just hours after his remarks, the panel advanced the new map by a 6-2 party-line vote, sending it to the full Senate for debate scheduled the following day. The committee also approved a separate measure to alter how majorities are calculated for constitutional amendments proposed by initiative petition, a move that would require such amendments to win a majority in all eight congressional districts in addition to a statewide majority. Both actions were met with strong objections from Democrats, who anticipated Republicans would limit or shut down debate, as they had done earlier in the week to push through procedural changes.
Cleaver, who has represented the 5th District since 2005 and previously served as Kansas City’s first Black mayor, expressed deep concern about the plan’s use of Troost Avenue—a street long known as a racial dividing line in Kansas City—as a new district boundary. “The line down Troost – I can’t explain it, I don’t have the words to tell you how damaging that is,” Cleaver told the committee, according to Associated Press reporting. The proposed map would carve up his district, attaching portions to the 4th and 6th Districts while adding heavily Republican areas along the Missouri River to Boone County. This would shift Black and minority voters out of Cleaver’s district and into a neighboring one held by Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, a move critics argue would dilute African-American voting power.
Denise Lieberman of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition echoed these concerns, stating, “This map is also subject to a challenge under the Voting Rights Act for the dilution of African-American votes.” She highlighted that the use of Troost Avenue as a boundary was especially troubling, given its history as the line separating Black and white sections of Kansas City during the era of legal housing segregation. “This is an unprecedented power grab here in Missouri,” Lieberman asserted, suggesting that the constitutionality of the plan would be challenged in court.
Cleaver made it clear he was not only representing himself but also the will of his constituents. “This is immensely unpopular, so I was not just here representing myself,” he said. “I’m representing the people of this district.” He reaffirmed his intention to seek reelection in 2026, regardless of how the district lines are drawn, and vowed to challenge the revised map in court. “A lot goes into making another decision,” Cleaver said. “But right now, I’m running.”
Republicans, for their part, defended the proposal as a fair reflection of Missouri’s political landscape. State Sen. Rick Brattin argued that a map allowing Republicans to win seven of the state’s eight U.S. House seats “provides a right representation of the state of Missouri.” State Rep. Dirk Deaton, the Republican sponsor of the bill, maintained that the map was drawn in the office of Governor Mike Kehoe before the special session was called, despite skepticism from Democratic Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, who accused Republicans of taking their cues directly from Washington, D.C.
The redistricting debate has played out against a backdrop of mounting national partisan tensions. President Trump, seeking to help Republicans keep their slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, directly intervened by posting on his social media platform: “The Missouri Senate must pass this Map now, AS IS, to deliver a gigantic Victory for Republicans in the ‘Show Me State,’ and across the Country. I will be watching closely.” Cleaver, for his part, lamented that the redistricting push threatened the bipartisan cooperation that Missouri’s congressional delegation has historically maintained. He noted that the delegation, led by Republican U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, meets monthly to discuss state issues, but such cooperation could be jeopardized by the new map.
Not all Republicans were entirely comfortable with the process. State Sen. Joe Nicola voiced irritation over the lack of opportunity for meaningful debate, saying, “When I don’t have my voice, the 185,000 people I represent also lose their voice, and that’s extremely irritating to me.” Nonetheless, Nicola voted in favor of both the redistricting plan and the initiative petition change in committee.
The proposed changes to the initiative petition process also sparked controversy. Currently, any proposal placed on a statewide ballot needs only a simple majority to pass. The new measure would require a majority in all eight congressional districts, a move critics say would allow a small minority of voters to block measures favored by the statewide majority. “If this is such a great idea and we are going to change the constitution, and this is the best way to do it, why don’t we use that same standard for the legislature changing it as the initiative process,” asked Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck. Republicans rejected his suggestion, with Sen. Brattin responding, “The whole point of this is to set those standards and to change those standards, but it has to be adopted by the current standard.”
Final passage of the redistricting bill would not immediately put the new maps in place for the 2026 election. The bill is set to take effect 90 days after the special session ends, but labor unions and other opponents are already preparing to seek a referendum, which would delay implementation until a statewide vote. Legal challenges under the Missouri Constitution and the Voting Rights Act also loom, raising the prospect of a prolonged legal and political battle.
Missouri’s constitution requires lawmakers to redraw congressional districts after each decennial census. The current map was passed in 2022, and the next census is scheduled for 2030. But with both parties across the country increasingly using redistricting as a tool to cement political power, the debate in Missouri has become a microcosm of the broader national struggle over voting rights, representation, and the health of American democracy.
As the Missouri Senate prepares for a final vote, Cleaver and his allies remain resolute. The outcome will not only shape Missouri’s political landscape for years to come but could also serve as a bellwether for similar battles nationwide. The lines may be shifting, but the fight over who draws them—and for whom—shows no sign of ending soon.