Missouri’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew the state’s congressional map in a September 2025 special session, splitting Kansas City into three districts to flip Democrat Emanuel Cleaver’s 5th District and push the state’s delegation from 6-2 to a likely 7-1 Republican majority. The new map, House Bill 1, drew three lawsuits and a referendum petition backed by more than 300,000 signatures. Every court challenge has failed, and Missouri’s gerrymandering fight now hinges on whether the Secretary of State certifies the referendum before the 2026 general election. For now, the new map is in effect.
What the New Map Does
Governor Mike Kehoe issued the special session proclamation on August 29, 2025.1Missouri Independent. Special Session to Redraw Missouri Congressional Districts Was Constitutional, Judge Rules The Missouri House passed the map 90-65 on September 9, 2025, and Kehoe signed it that month as House Bill 1.2Stateline. One Urban Crossroad, 3 New Districts: Kansas City Braces for Missouri Gerrymander
Cleaver’s old 5th District was carved into three separate congressional districts — the 4th, 5th, and 6th — that all meet at the intersection of Independence Avenue and Gladstone Boulevard in Kansas City’s urban core. The district is cut roughly in two along Troost Avenue, a street with a long history as a line of racial segregation in the city. The redrawn 5th now stretches nearly 200 miles east into Osage and Maries counties, pairing dense urban neighborhoods with large rural areas.3KCUR. Missouri’s New Congressional Map Is Set. Who’s Running for Kansas City’s 5th District2Stateline. One Urban Crossroad, 3 New Districts: Kansas City Braces for Missouri Gerrymander Cleaver called the use of Troost Avenue as a district border “egregious” and said the map “serves to minimize the voices of minority voters in Kansas City.”
An internal review by the Missouri Office of Administration found that the 5th District saw the largest demographic shift of any district under the new map. The minority population dropped by more than 70,000, from 324,132 to 253,964, a 9.1 percent decrease, while the white population rose by 8.5 percent. Black residents declined by 4.8 percent, Hispanic residents by 2.7 percent, and Asian residents by 1.3 percent.4Kansas City Star. Missouri Congressional Map Demographic Data
The Princeton Gerrymandering Project graded the map an “F” overall, with an “F” for partisan fairness (“significant Republican advantage”) and an “A” for geographic features, citing compact shapes and only five county splits.5Princeton Gerrymandering Project. Missouri 2025 Congressional Draft Map Report Card The same project had graded the 2022 map an “A” for partisan fairness.6The Beacon. Missouri Congressional Map Fair Gerrymandering Redistricting Cook Political Report reclassified the 5th District as “Solid Republican.”7Cook Political Report. Missouri 5th District Race Rating
The Three Lawsuits
Three separate legal challenges reached the Missouri Supreme Court in the first half of 2026. All three failed.
Can the Legislature Redistrict Mid-Decade?
The threshold question in Luther v. Hoskins was whether Article III, Section 45 of the Missouri Constitution, which requires redistricting after each decennial census, implicitly bars redistricting at other times. On March 24, 2026, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that it does not, holding the constitution contains “no express prohibition on mid-decade redistricting” and that the obligation to redistrict once a decade “does not limit the General Assembly’s power to redistrict more frequently.”8Missouri Times. Missouri Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of Mid-Decade Redistricting Three justices dissented, arguing the constitutional framework implied redistricting should occur only at regular intervals tied to the census.9State Court Report. Luther v. Hoskins
Was the Special Session Legal?
The Missouri NAACP sued in September 2025, arguing that redistricting and initiative petition changes did not constitute an “extraordinary occasion” under Article 4, Section 9 of the state constitution.10Spectrum News. Special Session to Redraw Missouri Congressional Districts Was Constitutional Cole County Judge Christopher Limbaugh rejected the challenge on February 13, 2026, ruling the governor has constitutional discretion to decide what qualifies.1Missouri Independent. Special Session to Redraw Missouri Congressional Districts Was Constitutional, Judge Rules On May 27, 2026, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously affirmed. Judge Mary Russell wrote that the constitution “does not include language suggesting the governor’s discretion to call an extraordinary session is limited in any way.”11Missouri Independent. Missouri Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Governor’s Power to Call Special Sessions
Are the Districts Compact Enough?
The most substantive challenge came in Wise v. State and its consolidated companion Healey v. State, filed in September 2025 by voters represented by the Campaign Legal Center, the ACLU Voting Rights Project, and the ACLU of Missouri. Plaintiffs argued that splitting Kansas City into three misshapen districts violated the Missouri Constitution’s requirement that congressional districts be “composed of contiguous territory as compact and as nearly equal in population as may be.” They also alleged that one Kansas City precinct had been assigned to two different districts.12Campaign Legal Center. Defending Missourians From Unconstitutional Gerrymandering: Wise v. State of Missouri13All About Redistricting. Wise v. Missouri
After a four-day trial, Jackson County Circuit Judge Adam Caine ruled on March 12, 2026 that the map was constitutional. Caine found that plaintiffs “failed to prove clearly and undoubtedly” that the districts violated the compactness standard, that the 2025 map’s compactness scores were within the range of historically enacted maps, and that the new map actually reduced the number of split municipalities from 30 to 13 compared to the 2022 map. On the duplicate precinct claim, he found the two areas had unique identifiers and did not overlap.14Missouri Independent. Judge Rules Gerrymandered Missouri Congressional Map Is Constitutional Caine cited the Missouri Supreme Court’s prior holding that redistricting decisions are “political in nature and best left to political leaders, not judges.”15KMBC. Missouri Congressional Maps Jackson County Judge Ruling
The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously affirmed on May 12, 2026. The court held that compactness means “closely united territory” rather than strict geometric shape, that courts must review the “totality of the evidence” rather than any single metric, and that the 2025 map improved compactness in the challenged districts compared to prior maps. The court reiterated that partisan gerrymandering, absent a specific constitutional prohibition, is a political question beyond judicial review.16FindLaw. Healey v. State, Wise v. State
The Referendum Petition
Under the Missouri Constitution, voters can file a referendum petition to force a statewide vote on a new law. A PAC called People Not Politicians submitted more than 305,000 signatures in December 2025 seeking to put House Bill 1 on the ballot.17Votebeat. Missouri Congressional Map 2026 Election Secretary of State Denny Hoskins
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins declined to certify the signatures on an expedited timeline, maintaining that he has until August 4, 2026, which is primary day, to complete his review. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on May 12, 2026 that simply filing a referendum petition does not automatically suspend the challenged law. Judge Ginger Gooch wrote that if the constitution’s drafters “intended a referendum petition filing to automatically suspend any act of the General Assembly at issue in the referendum petition, they would have so stated.”18St. Louis Public Radio. In Blow to Democrats, Missouri Supreme Court Says Map That Targets Rep. Cleaver Is in Effect The ruling left the new map in force while Hoskins conducts his review.
In May 2026, opponents filed a separate suit in Cole County to compel Hoskins to decide on the petition’s sufficiency.19Missouri Independent. Lawsuit Asks Judge to Force Decision on Missouri Gerrymandering Referendum Hoskins has said he will begin his state-level review on July 28 and finish by August 4, raising the possibility that the map could technically be suspended while primary voting is already underway.20St. Louis Public Radio. Missouri Redistricting Foes Want Hoskins to Decide on Referendum Now Local election officials have chosen to run the August primary under the new map to avoid confusion, though the state is maintaining data to allow a reversion to the 2022 map for the November general election if the referendum is certified.21Missouri Independent. Local Election Officials Go With Missouri’s Gerrymandered Congressional Map Despite Uncertainty
The 1st District and the Voting Rights Act
Missouri’s 1st Congressional District in St. Louis is a separate fight. That district has been a majority or plurality Black district for decades and is the only Missouri district drawn to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.22Missouri Independent. No Perfect Map: Missouri AG’s Office Defends Gerrymandered Congressional Districts In November 2025, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office filed a brief characterizing the 2022 version of the 1st District as a potential “unconstitutional racial gerrymander” and defended the 2025 map partly on the ground that it took a “race-blind” approach.23St. Louis Public Radio. Missouri Attorney General Hanaway: 1st Congressional District Unconstitutional Racial Gerrymander
In April 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the section of the Voting Rights Act used to mandate majority-minority districts. Hoskins said he supports a 2027 redistricting cycle to “eliminate” Missouri’s Black-majority district, saying the “definition of racism is drawing districts based on the color of one’s skin.”22Missouri Independent. No Perfect Map: Missouri AG’s Office Defends Gerrymandered Congressional Districts Rep. Wesley Bell and voting rights advocates have said eliminating the 1st District’s Black-majority composition would strip Black Missourians of their only representative chosen by a majority-Black electorate.24St. Louis Public Radio. Supreme Court Voting Decision Could Affect Missouri’s 1st Congressional District Next Year
Where Things Stand for 2026
The Republican-drawn map is in effect for the August 4, 2026 primary. Every court challenge has failed. The referendum is the last remaining avenue, but Hoskins has not certified the petition, and his own statements suggest that even if voters reject the map at the ballot box in November 2026, a reversion to the 2022 lines would not take effect until 2028.20St. Louis Public Radio. Missouri Redistricting Foes Want Hoskins to Decide on Referendum Now3KCUR. Missouri’s New Congressional Map Is Set. Who’s Running for Kansas City’s 5th District7Cook Political Report. Missouri 5th District Race Rating