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Missouri House Approves Mid-Decade GOP Map Targeting Kansas City Seat

Legal challenges mount over the plan now before the Republican-led Senate.

Missouri lawmakers recite the Pledge of Allegiance as a special legislative session gets underway on Wednesday, September 3, at the state capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Kelly Edmondson crosses a street in a neighborhood that would be affected by a proposal to redraw Missouri's congressional districts to favor Republican candidates Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Missouri Democratic state Rep. Ray Reed, left, looks at his phone while Democratic state Rep. Jeremy Dean glances up from his computer as they wait in the Missouri House chamber during a special legislation session on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025 in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)
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 US House districts, on Thursday, September 4, in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Overview

  • The House passed the “Missouri First” map 90–65, with 13 Republicans — including Speaker Jon Patterson — breaking ranks to vote no.
  • The plan splits Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City district by adding Republican-leaning rural areas, a change expected to give the GOP seven of Missouri’s eight U.S. House seats.
  • The measure advances to the state Senate and then to Gov. Mike Kehoe, who has promoted the proposal and is expected to sign it if it reaches his desk.
  • The Missouri NAACP sued to invalidate the special session, while Democrats are preparing further court challenges and considering a referendum to delay or overturn the map.
  • Missouri’s move joins a Trump-backed mid-decade redistricting effort that began with Texas, as California pursues a voter-approved countermeasure to add Democratic seats.