Missouri Republicans advance Trump-backed plan to redraw US House
districts
[September 10, 2025]
By DAVID A. LIEB
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri's Republican-led House turned aside
Democratic objections Tuesday and passed a plan backed by President
Donald Trump to redraw the state's congressional districts so that
Republicans could win an additional seat in the closely divided chamber.
The rare mid-decade redistricting plan, which now heads to the state
Senate, is aimed at bolstering Republicans' national prospects in next
year’s U.S. House elections, where Democrats need to gain just three
seats to take control. By reshaping a Democratic-held Kansas City
district, Republicans could win seven of Missouri's eight congressional
seats.
Missouri's effort comes after a similar move by Republican-led Texas and
a counter-offensive in Democratic-led California, which still needs
voter approval. Other states, including Republican-led Indiana and
Florida and Democratic-led Maryland and New York, could follow with
their own revisions in what's emerging as a national redistricting
battle.
U.S. House districts were redrawn across the country after the 2020
census to account for population changes. The current redistricting push
is being done for partisan advantage, a process known as gerrymandering.
“This is cheating,” said state Rep. Yolonda Fountain Henderson, one of
many Democrats who denounced the measure. "It’s like when President
Trump says, we jump.”
Trump wants to retain a congressional majority to advance his agenda.
But historically, the party opposing the president has gained seats in
the midterm elections, as Democrats did during Trump's first term and
then proceeded to impeach him.
Missouri lawmakers are meeting in a two-prong special session called by
Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.
The House on Tuesday also passed a measure that — if approved by the
Senate and statewide voters — would make it harder to pass citizen-led
initiatives amending the state constitution by requiring a majority vote
from each congressional district instead of a simple statewide majority.
That comes after Missouri's initiative process has been used in recent
years to win voter approval of amendments on abortion rights, marijuana
legalization and Medicaid expansion.
In a statement after the House votes, Kehoe thanked Republicans for
"ensuring that the values of Missourians are represented clearly and
effectively.”
Revised Missouri map could help Republicans gain a House seat
Republicans already hold six of Missouri's eight U.S. House seats, with
Democrats representing districts in Kansas City and St. Louis.
The GOP plan targets a Kansas City district held by Democratic U.S. Rep.
Emanuel Cleaver by stretching it eastward into Republican-heavy rural
areas and reducing the number of Black and minority voters in the
district. Other parts of Kansas City would be added to two predominantly
rural districts represented by Republicans.
Cleaver, who turns 81 in October, served as Kansas City's first Black
mayor from 1991-1999 and won election to the U.S. House in 2004. He
asserted that Republicans are creating an atmosphere of “intimidation”
and “division” and pledged to challenge the new map in court.
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Missouri state Rep. Dirk Deaton, R-Seneca, sponsor of a bill that
would redraw the state's U.S. House districts, testifies as a
proposed map is seen on the table during a committee hearing on the
bill , hursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff
Roberson)
"It’s one of those moments that, frankly, I never thought I would
experience,” Cleaver said in a recent interview with The Associated
Press.
Missouri House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Democrat from Kansas
City, denounced the Republican plan as “hyperpartisan
gerrymandering" done along racial lines.
“Under these new maps, they are erasing Emanuel Cleaver from
Congress essentially,” Aune said.
If the revised districts also pass the Senate, Aune said she expects
an initiative petition drive to try to force a public referendum on
the legislation. That could delay the changes from taking effect and
potentially overturn them.
Although the primary Kansas City district would expand
significantly, the state's congressional districts overall would be
more compact — and competitive — under the revised map, Republican
lawmakers said. Kehoe has defended the revised map as a means of
amplifying conservative voices in Congress.
It's "a congressional map that will better represent Missouri in
Washington, D.C.,” said sponsoring state Rep. Dirk Deaton, a
Republican.
Some Republicans join Democrats in opposing new districts
The Missouri House passed the revised districts on a 90-65 vote.
Thirteen Republicans, including House Speaker Jon Patterson of
suburban Kansas City, joined Democrats in voting against the revised
map. But only a couple spoke against it during two days of debate.
“Using our raw political power to tilt the playing field to our
side, regardless of the party, is wrong,” Republican state Rep.
Bryant Wolfin said.
Leading up to the House vote, three Democratic state lawmakers
staged a sit-in in the House chamber for several days and nights to
protest that the special session began while most members were
absent. Former Vice President Kamala Harris ordered pizza and
chicken wings delivered to them in a show of support.
Republicans are “bending a knee to Donald Trump and pushing through
these racist, gerrymandered districts,” said Rep. Ray Reed, of St.
Louis, one of those who slept in the chamber.
The Missouri NAACP has sued seeking to invalidate the special
session. The state lawsuit asserts there is no extraordinary
circumstance to justify the session and that the state constitution
prohibits redistricting without new census data or a ruling
invalidating the current districts.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, who took office Monday,
said she doesn't think there is any constitutional prohibition on
mid-decade redistricting.
___
Associated Press writer Heather Hollingsworth contributed from
Kansas City, Missouri.
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