Missouri gerrymandering plan faces several legal and logistical roadblocks
Missouri Republicans passed a new gerrymandered map in both chambers of the state legislature last week, prompting lawsuits and a petition process that could derail the plan.
Missouri Republicans had been facing pressure from President Donald Trump and his administration to implement a new congressional map to give the GOP an additional seat from the state in the 2026 midterms. After Texas Republicans successfully gerrymandered their state even further, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) called a special session to rig the map for his state.
A lawsuit filed by the Missouri National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) argues that the governor’s actions are a “blatant effort to silence Black voters and strip them of their fundamental rights.” The new GOP-drawn map carves the state’s 5th Congressional District — which is held by U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) — and makes it likely that he will lose the seat in the 2026 midterms and give the GOP seven of Missouri’s eight congressional seats.
A separate lawsuit was filed in Jackson County by voters in Cleaver’s district. The Missouri branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argues that the new map should be thrown out on the basis that redistricting before a decennial U.S. Census is an illegal action under the state’s constitution.
https://heartlandsignal.com/2025/09/16/missouri-gerrymandering-plan-faces-several-legal-and-logistical-roadblocks/