An effort to prevent a new Missouri congressional map from going into effect is getting a boost from the Democratic National Committee.
The DNC announced on Monday that it will be contributing staff and financial resources to bolster a referendum effort to place the new map up for a statewide vote. A group called People Not Politicians is trying to collect roughly 106,000 signatures before the middle of December to prevent the new lines from going into effect until a successful statewide vote.
Shelby Wiltz, DNC national political director, said the party will devote staff to help gather the necessary signatures and provide direct monetary support to the Missouri Democratic Party. Already, the People Not Politicians effort has attracted hundreds of thousands of dollars since lawmakers passed the congressional map during a special session in mid-September.
"Missouri has a really unique tool, which is the citizen referendum, which allows Missourians to be the ones who get to have the ultimate say about how their votes get counted and about how their maps are drawn, not Donald Trump, not Republicans," Wiltz said. "So we are eager to help them in that fight. And so we've made some investments to make sure that they're able to be successful."
People Not Politicians has had to contend with pushback from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins' office, who rejected the group's referendum proposals last week because Kehoe hadn't signed the legislation yet. People Not Politicians filed a lawsuit over the matter earlier this month. And its attorney has said that, based on the Missouri Constitution and court precedent, the group expects signatures obtained before Sunday will ultimately count.
A spokeswoman for Hoskins accepted and processed on Monday a new referendum from People Not Politicians.
If the group gets enough signatures in six out of eight congressional districts, the map can't go into effect unless voters approve it. And unless the legislature moves the election to early 2026, the referendum would occur in November 2026 – which would be too late for the new lines to go into effect until the 2028 election cycle.
Moving the election to the spring of 2026 would bring about its own risks, since Missouri rarely holds statewide elections outside of August or November. That may give an advantage to opponents of the new congressional lines, who have staged well-attended rallies since Kehoe called a special session on the new map.
Wiltz said a referendum could bring about high stakes for President Donald Trump, who pressured Missouri Republicans to pass the new map. If voters reject the new map, it could show that Trump's national push to redraw congressional lines is unpopular even in GOP-leaning states like Missouri.
"There's some things that Democrats and Republicans still agree on, and running fair elections is one of them, having transparency in our elections is one of them, having your voice counted fairly is one of them," Wiltz said.
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