Trump-backed plan to redraw Missouri congressional districts draws
opposition at first hearing
[September 05, 2025]
By DAVID A. LIEB
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri residents denounced a plan to redraw
the state's congressional districts on Thursday as Republican lawmakers
pressed ahead with President Donald Trump's strategy to bolster
Republicans in next year's congressional elections.
Dozens of people turned out for the first public hearing on a plan that
would split up a Kansas City congressional district to give Republicans
a shot at winning seven of Missouri's eight U.S. House seats.
Republicans already hold six of those seats.
"Kansas City does not want to be divided. We deserve representation and
a voice,” said Kristen Ellis Johnson, an attorney from Kansas City who
came to the Capitol with her husband and daughter. “You are dividing the
urban-dwelling, liberal-leaning population to purposely change those
votes.”
A Republican-led committee nonetheless endorsed the plan, advancing it a
step closer to a House debate next week.
Missouri is the third state to join an emerging national battle between
Republicans and Democrats seeking advantage in the way U.S. House
districts are drawn.
At Trump's prodding, Texas redrew its U.S. House districts last month to
give Republicans a chance at winning five additional seats. California
countered with its own revised map aimed at giving Democrats a shot at
winning five more U.S. House seats. The California plan still needs
voter approval in November.
The stakes are high because, nationally, Democrats need to gain just
three seats in the 2026 elections to take control of the House. And,
historically, the party of the president usually loses congressional
seats in midterm elections, as happened during Trump’s first term in
office.
Kansas City district would be merged with rural areas
Missouri's revised congressional map, as proposed by Republican Gov.
Mike Kehoe, would target a seat held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver
by stretching it from Kansas City eastward to encompass rural
Republican-leaning areas.
While lawmakers heard public criticism in Jefferson City, some opponents
held a press conference in Kansas City near the point where three of the
newly proposed districts would intersect. Edgar Palacios, president and
CEO of the Latinx Education Collaborative, wore black to the event to
decry the redistricting proposal.
“It feels like that, we are at a funeral — a funeral for democracy in
Missouri,” Palacios said. “This gerrymander runs directly against
everything we fight for. It says loud and clear, `Your voice, your
community, your vote does not matter.'”
Ashley Sadowski, a mother whose 7- and 11-year-olds are students in
Kansas City Public Schools, said the proposed map could have
repercussions beyond who wins elections.
“This means that I would drive from my home in one congressional
district to my son’s middle school in another congressional district,”
she said. “This does not make sense.”
“Politicians are denying our children the unified voice they deserve in
D.C," Sadowski added.
At the legislative hearing, lobbyist Shannon Cooper said Kansas City
government opposes the revised map because having a single person
represent most of the city in the U.S. House has helped bring federal
jobs and projects to the region.
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Robin Rothove, left, and Paula Smith, right, demonstrate outside the
Missouri Capitol as lawmakers prepare to conduct a committee hearing
inside to consider redrawing the state's U.S. House districts,
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff
Roberson)
Some rural residents also said they didn't want to be combined into
the same district as Kansas City.
“If they do that, people in Kansas City will not get their needs met
in Congress. It totally dilutes their vote,” Glenda Bainbridge, a
Democrat from rural Odessa, told The Associated Press as she waited
her turn to testify against the bill.
Only one person spoke in favor of the new map at the hearing. A
leader for Missouri Right to Life said the revised districts could
help send another anti-abortion lawmaker to Washington, D.C.
Missouri redistricting process facing legal challenge
State Rep. Dirk Deaton, who’s sponsoring the redistricting
legislation, said the proposed map would split fewer counties and
cities among multiple districts than the current congressional
districts.
“It is an improvement. It is a reform of our current congressional
map,” Deaton said.
He didn’t publicly disclose demographic data showing the racial
makeup of the newly proposed districts. The Republican lawmaker said
he didn’t have data on the estimated partisan composition of voters.
State Rep. Mark Sharp, of Kansas City, the ranking Democrat on the
redistricting committee, denounced the plan as a “morally corrupt”
attempt to push Cleaver “into an early retirement.”
Cleaver has said he would challenge the new map in court if it
passes.
The Missouri NAACP has already filed a lawsuit in state court
seeking to halt the special session. It argues that Kehoe’s call for
a special session is unconstitutional because no extraordinary
circumstance exists to justify it. It also asserts that the Missouri
Constitution prohibits redrawing congressional districts without new
census data or a ruling invalidating the current districts.
Under Missouri’s current map, only one district has been even
moderately competitive. Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner won her
suburban St. Louis seat with about 55% of the vote in each of the
past two elections. Cleaver won reelection in both 2024 and 2022
with over 60% of the vote, and most of Missouri’s other districts
had even larger victory margins.
___
Associated Press reporters Heather Hollingsworth and Nicholas Ingram
contributed from Kansas City, Missouri.
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