Missouri is next to answer Trump's call for redrawn maps that boost GOP
in 2026
[August 30, 2025]
By DAVID A. LIEB and ANDREW DeMILLO
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo (AP) — Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe said Friday that he
is calling Missouri lawmakers into a special session to redraw the
state’s U.S. House districts as part of a growing national battle
between Republicans and Democrats seeking an edge in next year’s
congressional elections.
Kehoe made the announcement just hours after Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott
signed into law a new congressional voting map designed to help
Republicans gain five more seats in the 2026 midterm elections. It
marked a win for President Donald Trump, who has been urging
Republican-led states to reshape district lines to give the party a
better shot at retaining control of the House.
Missouri is the third state to pursue an unusual mid-decade
redistricting for partisan advantage. Republican-led Texas took up the
task first but was quickly countered by Democratic-led California, where
Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking voters to approve a map aimed at giving his
party five more seats.
Kehoe scheduled Missouri's special session to begin Sept. 3. He released
a proposed new map that targets Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas
City-area district by stretching it eastward into rural
Republican-leaning areas.
His agenda also includes another Republican priority — a proposed
constitutional amendment that would make it harder to approve
citizen-initiated ballot measures, such as abortion-rights and marijuana
legalization amendments adopted in recent years.
Kehoe cast both items as a defense against liberal politicians and
activists.
“Missouri’s conservative, common-sense values should be truly
represented at all levels of government," he said in a statement.
Democrats were quick to express outrage. Missouri state House Minority
Leader Ashley Aune called Kehoe a “Trump puppet” attempting to “steal a
congressional seat for Republicans” and gut the ballot initiative
process.
It “marks the worst threat to the integrity of our state government
since pro-slavery lawmakers voted for Missouri to join the Confederacy
in 1861,” Aune said in a statement.
Missouri is represented in the U.S. House by six Republicans and two
Democrats — Cleaver and Rep. Wesley Bell in St. Louis.
Cleaver called the proposed redistricting an attack on democracy
perpetrated by Trump.
“This attempt to gerrymander Missouri will not simply change district
lines, it will silence voices. It will deny representation,” Cleaver
said in a statement while vowing not to concede the seat.
Missouri Democrats have little ability to prevent Republican lawmakers
from enacting a new map. Unlike in Texas, where Democrats left the state
for two weeks to delay a vote, Missouri Democrats' absence would not
prevent a quorum for business. And although Democrats could filibuster
in the Senate, Republicans could use procedural maneuvers to shut that
down, as they did earlier this year to pass a proposed constitutional
amendment restricting abortion.
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Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe delivers the State of the State address,
Jan. 28, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
Republicans won a 220-215 House majority over Democrats in 2024, an
outcome that aligned almost perfectly with the share of the vote won
by the two parties in districts across the U.S., according to a
recent Associated Press analysis. Although the overall outcome was
close to neutral, the AP’s analysis shows that Democrats and
Republicans each benefited from advantages in particular states
stemming from the way districts were drawn.
Democrats would need to net three seats in next year’s election to
take control of the chamber. The incumbent president’s party tends
to lose seats in the midterm elections, as was the case for Trump in
2018, when Democrats won control of the House and subsequently
launched investigations of Trump. Seeking to avoid a similar
situation in his second term, Trump has urged Republican-led states
to fortify their congressional seats.
In Texas, Republicans already hold 25 of the 38 congressional seats.
“Texas is now more red in the United States Congress,” Abbott said
in a video he posted on X of him signing the legislation.
Newsom, who has emerged as a leading adversary of Trump on
redistricting and other issues, tauntingly labeled Abbott on X as
the president’s “#1 lapdog” following the signing. Democrats already
hold 43 of California’s 52 congressional seats.
Voting rights groups filed a lawsuit this week ahead of Abbott’s
signing the bill, saying the new map weakens the electoral influence
of Black voters. Texas Democrats have also vowed to challenge the
new map in court.
Some Missouri Republicans had pushed for a map that could give them
a 7-1 edge when redrawing districts after the 2020 census. But the
GOP legislative majority ultimately opted against it. Some feared
the more aggressive plan could be susceptible to a legal challenge
and could backfire in a poor election year for Republicans by
creating more competitive districts that could allow Democrats to
win three seats.
Republican officials in Florida, Indiana and elsewhere also are
considering revising their U.S. House districts, as are Democratic
officials in Illinois, Maryland and New York.
In Utah, a judge recently ordered the Republican-led Legislature to
draw new congressional districts after finding that lawmakers had
weakened and ignored an independent commission established by voters
to prevent partisan gerrymandering. Republicans have won all four of
Utah’s congressional seats under the map approved by lawmakers in
2021.
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DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Associated Press
journalist Jim Vertuno contributed from Austin, Texas.
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