Members of the Missouri House began a special session on Wednesday aimed at ousting Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and severely restricting initiative ballot petitions.
With limited ability from House Democrats to stop their GOP counterparts, lawmakers could pass a congressional map out of a newly formed redistricting committee by Thursday.
Gov. Mike Kehoe called lawmakers into a special session to convert Cleaver's Kansas City-based 5th District into a GOP-leaning seat. The Republican chief executive also wants voters to decide next year whether some constitutional amendments should require passage in a statewide vote and in all eight congressional districts instead of a simple majority.
The redistricting push comes as President Donald Trump pressured GOP-leaning states, like Missouri, Texas, Indiana and Florida, to redraw their congressional lines before the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans hold a slender majority in the U.S. House, and the president's party often does poorly in midterms. A Democratic takeover of the chamber could stall Trump's agenda during his last two years in office and likely open his administration up to a slew of investigations.
California voters will soon decide whether to create a map that could elect more Democrats. And Illinois and Maryland are also considering redrawing their congressional lines.
State Rep. Richard West is the chairman of a newly formed House redistricting committee, which is slated to have a hearing at noon Thursday.
The St. Charles County Republican expects members to pass the new map out of his committee the same day.
"The intentions of my committee at this point in time are to not make any changes," West said.
West was a supporter in 2022 of drawing a congressional map that had seven GOP-leaning seats and one Democratic-leaning seat. Republicans rejected that idea, contending that it could make Reps. Mark Alford and Sam Graves districts more competitive.
But West also said what's known as the 7-1 map reflects where Missouri voters have gone over the past few election cycles.
"If you look at our state the way we've been voting in the last few years, I think we've become a more Republican state," West said. "Not more conservative, but a more Republican state. There's a difference. And I think that a 7-1 map best represents the Missouri voter at this point in time."
Democrats decry session they say could backfire on the GOP
Jen Kruse sat alone on the steps of the Missouri Capitol hours before the start of the special session with a sign in hand that read: "Once a cheater, always a cheater."
The 43-year-old Tipton resident said she will continue protesting the GOP's efforts to redistrict Missouri to favor the party — an effort she says amounts to "cheating the voters."
"They called Texas the canary in the coal mine, if we are not such a warning right now … take a look at us," she said. "Stand up, speak out, get active, show yourself [and] make a presence because if you don't, they are not going to listen to you otherwise."
Wednesday's meeting was what's known as a technical session, which allows lawmakers to introduce bills and send bills to committee but doesn't involve debate over legislation. Still, the session did perhaps foreshadow the fight to come.
Right after lawmakers gaveled into session, state Rep. Elizabeth Fuchs tried to call a point of order over a lack of a quorum. She was overruled – something the St. Louis Democrat said showed GOP leaders are "conforming and upholding the illegal cheating and gerrymandering that's happening here."
"We're going to make this very hard for them," Fuchs said. "If they are going to change the will of the voters, if they are going to take away our votes, change the congressional maps and do Trump's bidding, we are going to make this very, very hard."
Unlike in Texas, Democrats in the House can't deny Republicans a quorum by not showing up or fleeing the state. In fact, House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, said that Republicans would probably want Democrats to not show up since "it would make their jobs easier."
"Trump has been really effective at threatening people," Aune said. "He was directly threatening lawmakers in Indiana over redistricting, and I think that folks are just afraid that they're going to lose their seats. Missouri Republicans are terrified of losing their grip on power. And they are just far too willing to capitulate to the request of the federal government."
While Trump and his staff are exerting pressure on Republicans to vote for the new map, West said he doesn't think that's why his GOP colleagues who didn't support the map in 2022 will change their minds.
"We have new leadership in the state of Missouri, and there's a big difference. Our last leadership did not want the 7-1 map for whatever reasons that he had," said West, referring to the fact that then-Gov. Mike Parson did not aggressively push for a map that put Cleaver at a disadvantage. "Our new leadership does want the 7-1 map, and I believe that leadership will trickle down to the members of the House and eventually the Senate. And a lot of those votes will change."
But even some Republicans concede that concerns about the map backfiring haven't gone away. Rep. Kemp Strickler, D-Lee's Summit, said it's not a sure thing that a Republican can win the revamped 5th District, which would connect portions of Kansas City to a number of rural counties.
"Especially in 2026 given what we've seen nationally happening and the number of people that are upset with what's happening, I think there is still a great chance that Missouri's 5th District stays Democratic," Strickler said. "I think there's a good chance that Missouri's 4th District could go Democratic, because it's splitting out some of the areas of Kansas City that vote very, very heavily."
Initiative petition threshold change
Missouri Republicans also unveiled a ballot item that would, if approved by voters, require some initiative petitions to pass statewide and in eight congressional districts. The proposal would not apply to constitutional amendments that originate from the legislature.
If the plan had been in effect in 2024, Amendment 3, a successful abortion rights measure, would have needed to pass in a statewide vote and in eight out of eight congressional districts to be enacted. But a measure the GOP-controlled legislature voted to put on the 2026 ballot to repeal most of Amendment 3 would only need to pass by a statewide majority vote.
"I think it's just another example of the GOP commitment to rules for thee, but not for me," Aune said. "And you know, it's deeply frustrating. But it does show exactly where their hearts and their minds are at here, and truly how little they value the vote of Missourians."
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said Wednesday he didn't think that a two-tiered system would make the proposal vulnerable to a legal challenge.
He also said there is some logic to having a different threshold for constitutional amendments that lawmakers put on the ballot.
"Something that goes through the legislature, it is definitely properly vetted," Hoskins said. "There are hearings where people can come and testify, both for and against. You can have amendments that are offered to that ballot measure. However, on the initiative petition process, there is no vetting, there are no hearings, there is no time for public input and public testimony at the state Capitol. And so it's two very different processes."
Voters soundly rejected efforts to make it harder to amend the constitution in Ohio and Arkansas. And Missourians have backed what are perceived as left-of-center ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid, legalize marijuana, and raise the minimum wage.
"Requiring a majority in all eight districts will be virtually impossible to pass the initiative petition and would effectively silence the voice of the people," said Kay Park of the League of Women Voters of Missouri.
The House Elections Committee was slated to take up the initiative petition package.
St. Louis Public Radio's Brian Munoz contributed to this report.
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