Missouri Governor Calls Special Session to Redraw Congressional Districts: Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe announced a special session to redraw Missouri's U.S. House districts, aiming for a Republican advantage in the 2026 elections. This follows similar partisan redistricting efforts in Texas and California, igniting a national battle over political representation. The proposed map targets Democratic districts, and the session also addresses proposed constitutional amendments impacting ballot initiatives
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe announced a special session to redraw congressional districts, mirroring Texas's Republican-led redistricting effort. This move, following Texas Governor Greg Abbott's signing of a new map aimed at boosting Republican House seats in 2026, aligns with President Trump's push for partisan gerrymandering. The Missouri redistricting, part of a national political battle, seeks to reshape Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's district and further Republican goals in the 2026 midterm elections
Missouri joins Texas and California in a partisan mid-decade gerrymandering battle. Following Texas' Republican-led redistricting effort and California's Democratic counter-move, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has called a special session to redraw congressional districts, aiming for a Republican advantage in the 2026 elections. This unprecedented move reflects the escalating national fight for political power through redistricting
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe calls special session for partisan gerrymandering, targeting Rep. Cleaver's district with a new congressional map starting September 3rd. The proposed map expands Cleaver's Kansas City district eastward into Republican areas, mirroring similar efforts in Texas and California. The session also addresses a proposed constitutional amendment restricting citizen-initiated ballot measures
Governor Kehoe's special session agenda also includes a proposed constitutional amendment to restrict citizen-initiated ballot measures. This Republican priority aims to make it more difficult to pass initiatives like recent abortion rights and marijuana legalization amendments, reflecting a broader effort to counter liberal policies and protect Missouri's conservative values
Governor Kehoe's special session agenda: Redistricting and initiative petition reform to counter liberal policies and protect Missouri's conservative values. This move aims to bolster Republican representation in Congress and strengthen conservative control over state initiatives
Governor Kehoe advocates for Missouri's conservative values to be reflected in government, prioritizing redistricting and initiative petition reform to ensure the state's constitution reflects its citizens' priorities
Governor Kehoe Calls Special Session: Missouri Redistricting & Initiative Petition Reform. Protecting Missouri values through updated congressional districts and constitutional amendments to ensure fair representation and citizen initiatives. #MissouriPolitics #Redistricting #InitiativePetitionReform #MOLeg
Missouri Democrats denounce Governor Kehoe's partisan gerrymandering and ballot initiative reform efforts as a "Trump puppet" power grab, aiming to secure Republican congressional seats and suppress voter initiatives
Missouri Governor calls special session for partisan gerrymandering, drawing comparisons to the 1861 pro-slavery crisis. This unprecedented mid-decade redistricting effort, mirroring actions in Texas and California, is deemed the gravest threat to state government integrity since the Confederacy vote
Missouri's congressional delegation currently consists of six Republicans and two Democrats: Emanuel Cleaver and Rep. Wesley Bell, representing St. Louis. This composition is central to the state's upcoming special session on redistricting
Rep. Cleaver condemns Missouri's GOP-led gerrymandering effort, calling the proposed redistricting plan a partisan attack on democracy orchestrated by Trump
Missouri Gerrymandering: Congressman Cleaver Condemns Republican-Led Redistricting Effort to Silence Democratic Voices and Deny Representation
Unconstitutional Gerrymandering in Missouri: Republicans Push Mid-Decade Redistricting. Governor Kehoe's special session to redraw Missouri's congressional districts is a blatant partisan power grab, ignoring democratic principles and the upcoming census. This unprecedented move attacks the fairness of elections. Read my full statement: [https://t.co/dJSmVZeagn](https://t.co/dJSmVZeagn) #Missouri #Gerrymandering #Redistricting #Politics #Election2026
Missouri Democrats face an uphill battle against Republican-led redistricting efforts. Unlike Texas, where Democrats' walkout prevented a quorum, Missouri Republicans can proceed even with Democratic absences. While a Senate filibuster is possible, Republicans possess the procedural tools to swiftly overcome it, as demonstrated by their earlier passage of an abortion-restricting constitutional amendment
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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