Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed GOP-drawn congressional map targeting Rep. Cleaver's Kansas City seat

On September 28, 2025, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a new congressional map into law, more than two weeks after the Missouri General Assembly passed it during a special session called at President Trump's request. The map redraws the state's eight U.S. House districts to make seven of them winnable by Republicans, up from six under the map it replaced, by dividing the Kansas City-area 5th Congressional District held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Kehoe signed the bill at an event closed to the media, saying in a statement that "Missourians are more alike than we are different."

The redraw came less than three years after Missouri's current congressional map took effect following the 2020 census, outside the state's ordinary once-a-decade redistricting cycle. By the time Kehoe signed the map, opponents had already filed multiple lawsuits challenging the new lines, with a fourth suit filed the day after signing.

Updates

2025-09-29 — Fourth lawsuit filed challenging the new map [3]

Opponents filed a fourth lawsuit against the new congressional map the day after Kehoe signed it, adding to challenges already pending against the redraw.

2026-03-12 — Jackson County judge upheld map's compactness [6, 7]

A Jackson County circuit judge ruled that Missouri's redrawn congressional map met the state constitution's requirement that districts be as compact as practicable, rejecting a challenge brought by the Campaign Legal Center and the ACLU. The judge did not address whether lawmakers had the authority to enact the map outside the normal redistricting cycle, saying that question was before the Missouri Supreme Court.

2026-05-12 — Missouri Supreme Court upheld the congressional map [4, 5]

The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously rejected three consolidated challenges to the map — two contesting its compactness and one arguing the pending referendum signatures should have kept it on hold — ruling the map stands for the 2026 elections. Chief Justice W. Brent Powell wrote that the court's review was "limited to determining only the legality – not the prudence or popularity – of the map."

2026-05-27 — Missouri Supreme Court rejected NAACP's challenge to the special session [8, 9]

The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Gov. Kehoe had constitutional authority to call the special session that passed the map, rejecting a NAACP lawsuit arguing no "extraordinary occasion" justified convening lawmakers. The ruling ended the last legal challenge seeking to overturn the map without a statewide vote.

2026-08-19 — Cole County judge upheld map for November and blocked referendum [10, 11]

On August 19, 2026, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled that Missouri's constitutional referendum process does not apply to congressional redistricting enacted by the legislature, upholding Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins's refusal to certify a petition seeking a statewide vote on the map. The ruling kept the Trump-backed congressional map in effect for the November 2026 general election, and opponents signaled the case was likely to be appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.

2026-09-03 — Missouri Supreme Court blocked the map for the November election [12, 13]

The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the prior congressional map must be used for the November 2026 general election, holding that a citizen referendum petition against the new map had collected sufficient signatures to automatically suspend it under the state constitution and that Judge Green's August ruling was error. Because primaries were already held under the new districts, candidates nominated there must run in different districts for the general election. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said the state would seek emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court before the September 8 ballot-finalization deadline.

2026-09-07 — State sought emergency Supreme Court and federal-court relief against the ruling; referendum organizer opposed [14, 15]

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway's office asked the U.S. Supreme Court on September 4 to stay the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling and allow the new map to be used in November, arguing the state court's decision violated the U.S. Constitution's elections clause; Justice Brett Kavanaugh set a Monday deadline for other parties to respond. Solicitor General Lou Capozzi separately asked a federal district judge on September 6 to block the state ruling, on behalf of Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, calling the state court's reasoning "a legal fiction." On September 7, Richard von Glahn, an organizer of the referendum against the new map, urged the U.S. Supreme Court to leave the state ruling in place, arguing the state's application "does not present a real emergency."

2026-09-08 — Kavanaugh denied Missouri's stay request; a federal judge separately ordered use of the new map [16, 17, 18, 19]

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, acting as Circuit Justice for the Eighth Circuit, denied Missouri's emergency application to stay the Missouri Supreme Court's September 3 ruling that blocked the state's new congressional map, leaving that block in place at the U.S. Supreme Court level. Minutes later, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a 14-day temporary restraining order in a separate federal case brought by Rep. Bob Onder, directing Missouri's Secretary of State to use the new map anyway — producing directly conflicting state and federal orders on which map applies for the November 2026 election, just ahead of the September 8 ballot-finalization deadline.