Democrats attempted to pull a Republican congressional map off course just weeks before the midterms. A Missouri judge has now slammed that door shut.
Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled that the state’s referendum process cannot be used to overturn a congressional map enacted by the General Assembly. The decision keeps Missouri’s Republican-backed districts in force for the November election.
The judge found that Missouri’s constitutional referendum provisions do not apply to congressional redistricting enacted by lawmakers and upheld Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ refusal to certify a petition seeking a statewide vote on the map. Most importantly for November, Green ordered that the new congressional map remain in full force for the 2026 general election, leaving no temporary gap or return to the districts used in 2022 and 2024.
The ruling preserves the districts Missouri already used for its August primaries. Republican lawyers warned that swapping maps after candidate nominations would create widespread voter confusion and damage confidence in the election. Green also agreed that changing district lines after the primary would violate federal law, and the court entered judgment for Hoskins and the three Republican committees, giving the state a clear map to administer unless a higher court intervenes.
The battle began last year when Republican Governor Mike Kehoe called lawmakers into a special session to redraw Missouri’s eight congressional districts. The Legislature passed House Bill 1, which Kehoe signed as the Missouri First Map on September 28, 2025.
In his signing announcement, Kehoe stated that House Bill 1 created updated districts for all eight of Missouri’s U.S. House seats while splitting fewer counties and municipalities than the old plan. It also preserves two districts as previously drawn and keeps every sitting member of Missouri’s delegation in their existing district.
Kehoe convened the special session on August 29, 2025, and signed the bill sixteen days after it received final approval from the General Assembly. House Bill 1 was sponsored by Republican Representative Dirk Deaton and Republican Senator Rusty Black. Kehoe credited state lawmakers, Missouri’s congressional delegation, and President Trump for getting the map to his desk.
Missouri currently sends six Republicans and two Democrats to the U.S. House. The new map reshapes Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-based 5th District by moving pieces of the city into neighboring Republican districts and stretching the remaining district east into heavily Republican territory.
State Senator Rick Brattin won the Republican primary in the redrawn district earlier this month, while Cleaver ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. If Republicans flip that seat, Missouri’s delegation could shift from 6-2 to 7-1 at a moment when a tiny number of districts may decide which party controls the House.
The referendum campaign, led by People Not Politicians, submitted more than 300,000 signatures in an effort to place the map before voters. Secretary Hoskins rejected the petition on August 4, arguing that congressional redistricting is a legislative responsibility not subject to a statewide referendum under Missouri law.
Missouri data showed the campaign had collected enough signatures to meet the numerical threshold for a November ballot. However, Hoskins issued a certificate of insufficiency on August 4, stating the petition was invalid because a congressional map cannot be challenged through the state’s referendum process.
The Cole County court found no constitutional language transferring congressional mapmaking authority from the General Assembly to voters. Missouri’s Constitution assigns redistricting to the Legislature, and the judge concluded that the state’s general referendum language does not expressly transfer federal-election responsibility to voters.
Because Missouri had already nominated candidates under the new districts, the ruling kept those same boundaries in place for the general election, avoiding a disruption to the voting process. The campaign may still appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, but the Republican map remains operative for now.
