The Missouri House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, passed a sweeping new congressional map that will likely reduce Democratic representation to just one seat in the U.S. House delegation.
The revolutionary “Missouri First” map promises a fierce partisan restructuring ahead of the 2026 midterms.
In a 90-65 vote, GOP legislators approved a redistricting plan that dismantles the Democrat stronghold of the 5th District, anchored in Kansas City, and partitions it across adjacent rural Republican-dominated districts, according to AP News.
Republicans are poised to secure seven of the state’s eight congressional seats.
Missouri Independent reported:
Gov. Mike Kehoe called the legislature back into session after weeks of pressure from the President Donald Trump for GOP-run states to redraw congressional districts to ensure more Republican seats before next year’s midterm elections.
In Missouri, the effort targeted the 5th District, currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City, by carving it up and dispersing its voters into three districts that give Republicans an electoral advantage in seven of the state’s eight congressional districts.
“This is a superior map,” said state Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Noel Republican sponsoring the proposed new congressional map. “It better represents the state of Missouri.”
In addition to the gerrymandered map, Republicans also took aim at the citizen initiative petition process. The House approved a plan Tuesday that would require constitutional amendments put on the ballot by Missouri voters to attain both a simple majority statewide and a majority in all eight congressional districts in order to pass.
Based on last year’s election results, that change would mean as few as 5% of voters could defeat any ballot measure. The proposal would also ban foreign contributions to initiative petition campaigns…
If it passes the Senate, the issue would go on the statewide ballot in 2026 and require a simple majority to approve.
Hellbound and Down 