Missouri House approves redistricting plan as part of nationwide GOP push to defend House majority

The Missouri House of Representatives passed a new congressional map on Tuesday that is expected to hand Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. 

The Missouri Senate is now tasked with passing the new map before it can land on Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk. 

A special session of Missouri’s legislature to redraw the solidly red state’s congressional districts began last week. The Midwest state is the latest battleground in the high-stakes partisan fight over congressional redistricting ahead of the midterms. 

“Missouri’s conservative, commonsense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that,” Kehoe said as he announced the special session and unveiled the proposed map. 

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Missouri Democrats staged a sit-in over the weekend, refusing to leave the chamber in protest of the Republican-backed map. Missouri state House Minority Leader Ashley Aune has accused Republicans of pushing to “rig our maps and eliminate our representation in Congress.”

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Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin celebrated the Missouri Democrats’ protest in a statement released Monday. 

“The DNC applauds their efforts leading and using every tool at their disposal to raise awareness for the craven scheme by Missouri Republicans. In every corner of this country, Democrats are fighting back. Missouri Democrats can count on the DNC’s support as we protect Missouri voters and save our country from Trump’s billionaire-first agenda,” Martin said. 

President Donald Trump argued in a social media post that Missouri voters would have “the tremendous opportunity to elect an additional MAGA Republican in the 2026 Midterm Elections.”

Kehoe’s move came hours after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a redistricting bill passed by the Republican supermajority in the state legislature that aims to create up to five right-leaning congressional districts at the expense of currently Democrat-controlled seats in the reliably red state.

The efforts in Missouri and Texas are part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Democrats are fighting back against the rare, but not unheard-of mid-decade redistricting.

State lawmakers in heavily blue California have approved a special ballot proposition this November to obtain voter approval to temporarily sidetrack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature.

The effort in California, which aims to create five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts and counter the shift in Texas, is being spearheaded by two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender.

In Missouri, the new map proposed by Kehoe targets longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City area district by shifting it eastward to include rural right-leaning voters. 

If passed by the GOP-controlled legislature, the new map would likely flip Cleaver’s seat and give Republicans a seven-to-one advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation.

Cleaver, whose seat is threatened, has vowed to take legal action if the new map is signed into law by the governor.

With Democrats currently needing just a three-seat pickup in next year’s midterms to win back the House majority, Indiana, South Carolina and Florida are mulling their own GOP-friendly redistricting plans ahead of the 2026 elections. And right-leaning Ohio is under a court order to draw new maps ahead of the midterms.

Democrats, as they push back, are looking to New York, Illinois and Maryland in the hopes of creating more left-leaning congressional seats.

In Illinois and Maryland, where Govs. J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore are discussing redistricting, Democrats hope to pick up to three more left-leaning seats.

And Democrats could pick up a seat in right-leaning Utah, where a judge recently ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to draw new maps after ruling that lawmakers four years ago ignored an independent commission approved by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering.