ST. LOUIS—Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe said Friday he’s calling state lawmakers back for an extraordinary special session on Wednesday to redraw the state’s congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in an attempt to protect GOP control of the U.S. House. He’s also asking them to take up reform of the state’s initiative petition process. 

Today, I am calling on the General Assembly to take action on congressional redistricting and initiative petition reform to ensure our districts and Constitution truly put Missouri values FIRST. pic.twitter.com/O3ZDArSDQV

— Governor Mike Kehoe (@GovMikeKehoe) August 29, 2025

President Donald Trump has openly encouraged Republican-controlled states, including Missouri, Texas, Indiana and others, to pass new maps, prompting states held by Democrats to consider doing the same in response.

Six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats are held by Republicans. It’s been widely expected for some time that a special session would attempt to carve the Fifth District, held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, into GOP-friendly terrain.

 

 

 

The map proposed by Kehoe Friday stretches the Fifth District from parts of Jackson County east to portions of rural Boone, Cole and Maries County in mid-Missouri. It leaves the state’s Seventh and Eighth Dstricts in southern Missouri intact as they are today, and doesn’t draw any current incumbent out of their district. 

Cleaver had previously said any move to change his district would come with a legal challenge. He was defiant in a statement Friday.

“I will not surrender the voices of the people who entrusted me to fight for them. The people of the Fifth District and I will fight relentlessly to ensure Missouri never becomes an antidemocratic state, where politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives. In the courts and at the ballot box, we will demand that the rule of law is upheld, our voices are heard, and democracy prevails,” he said.

The specific contours of the map Kehoe released Friday appear to have been closely held. Legislative sources claimed earlier in the day they hadn’t seen maps and were uncertain about whether the special session call would even include redistricting. Republicans have spent considerable energy in recent legislative sessions trying to pass initiative petition reform in the wake of several statewide ballot measures which have successfully passed Medicaid expansion, recreational marijuana legalization, and last year, sports wagering and restoring abortion access. 

Conservative state lawmakers proposed a “7-1” map in 2022 that failed to get approval amid some concerns it could ultimately backfire in future elections.

The difference with this mid-decade push is that it has included ‌direct outreach to lawmakers from Trump allies, and in some cases, the President himself, according to our news partners at the Missouri Independent.

Last week, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that Missouri was “now IN” in what was seen as a reference to the redistricting process. Kehoe, asked at the time if the state was “in” on redistricting, pointed to Trump’s three wins in the state but said he was continuing to work with state legislative leaders. He has suggested that Missouri is more reflective of Speaker Mike Johnson, and not Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader who would become Speaker if Democrats retake the House.

Trump thanked Kehoe in a social media post Friday.

 

GREAT Governor Mike Kehoe, of the Wonderful State of Missouri, which I love and won SIX times, including with 1.8 Million Votes in 2024 (by far the most Votes in History!), just called a very Special Session to begin passage of a new, much fairer, and much improved, Congressional… pic.twitter.com/L0nB5enuvW

— Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) August 29, 2025

Democrats were quick to counter.

“This move represents an alarming abuse of power and a blatant attempt to rig the electoral map for partisan gain,” Russ Carnahan, chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party said in a statement. “Rather than focusing on the pressing needs of Missourians, Republican leaders are bowing down to Washington politicians, playing political games and working behind closed doors to rig the rules in their favor because they are afraid of voter backlash in the midterm election from their unpopular agenda benefitting billionaires at the expense of working families. Missourians deserve better from the elected officials pushing for these changes.”

If lawmakers pass the new-look Fifth District, there could be a pair of ready-made GOP candidates waiting in the wings. State Sen. Kurtis Gregory, the former University of Missouri football player hails from Saline County, while Secretary of State Denny Hoskins hailed from Warrensburg where he served in the State Senate before moving on to statewide office in January.

Gregory could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

“Right now, I’m focused on supporting the Governors call for a special session,” Hoskins said in a text message Friday night. He was among the Republicans who pushed for the 7-1 map in 2022, and has also advocated for initative petition changes.

The map as designed would also make one big change to the St. Louis region, by putting St. Charles County entirely in one district, a seat currently held by Rep. Bob Onder. Rep. Ann Wagner, who national Democrats have targeted for defeat in 2026, would see her district shift by picking up all or parts of Franklin, Washington, Crawford, Gasconade and Jefferson County, along with her home of St. Louis County.

I fully support Governor Kehoe’s call for an extraordinary session of the Missouri General Assembly to reform initiative petition policy and better align our state’s congressional districts to reflect Missouri’s values. I look forward to the state legislature’s action, and am…

— Ann Wagner (@AnnLWagner) August 29, 2025

This is a breaking story and will be updated