With less than two months to go before the November election, Missouri has become embroiled in legal chaos over redistricting.
After a ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court that blocked a Republican redistricting plan and placed a referendum on the November ballot, many Missouri voters will vote in different congressional districts in November's election than they did in the August primary.
For state Sen. Rick Brattin, the Republican nominee for Missouri’s 5th District, that means the state would be disenfranchising voters.
“I mean, this isn't rocket science," Brattin told KCUR's Up To Date. "This isn't any tit for tat or anything. This is just down to the brass tacks of disenfranchising 1.2 million people, and hopefully the federal courts will rectify this egregious ruling by the state Supreme Court."
Brattin said the altered map will dramatically change his approach to campaigning.
“It's almost an insurmountable uphill battle because now I've got to to retool a campaign to a new district mid cycle with only less than 60 days left. I mean, it's ridiculous,” he said. “I can't believe that the the government would step in and do this to, you know, not just the candidates but to the voters in general.”
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II blames the “up and down” nature of this redistricting battle on Republican lawmakers.
“This is confusing only because the other side did not listen to what the court said almost a year ago when this was first brought forth," Cleaver said. "The courts told the people of Missouri that as soon as the signatures for the referendum were certified, that automatically the district would go back to (the 2022 map), because the people's right to referenda had to be respected.
“And so, there had to be an election before the the map was approved. The map was approved with disregard to what the courts had already said, and so if there is confusion, the architects of the confusion are the people who started it.”
The drama dates back to a special session last year, called at the behest of President Donald Trump. Over the objections of Democrats, Republican state lawmakers passed a redrawn congressional map in an attempt to add a GOP-leaning seat to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The new map carved up Kansas City into three different districts, connecting urban parts of the city with rural communities hundreds of miles away, with the ultimate goal of making the 5th District nearly impossible to win for a Democrat like Cleaver.
In response, citizens who opposed the redistricting plan collected more than 300,000 signatures supporting a referendum on the statewide ballot.
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins tried to block the measure, claiming it was unconstitutional, but the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled earlier this month that it must go on the ballot. The court also ruled that the new map could not be used until after voters decided on the referendum — blocking the gerrymandered districts from the 2026 midterms.
Republicans failed to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the decision. Meanwhile, the Missouri Supreme Court found Hoskins was in contempt of court for telling election authorities to use the new maps anyways. Hoskins ultimately backed off.
On Thursday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear a challenge to using the old map in November's election. But legal experts warn it is highly unlikely to make a difference.
Moving forward, Cleaver expressed concern that Republican lawmakers in Missouri are going to push for an 8-0 GOP map before the 2028 election cycle.
“The Missouri Republican Party has been very clear that that's exactly what they want,” he said. “I have heard them say in my presence that Missouri is so conservative that all of the members of the Missouri delegations of the United States House of Representatives should be Republican, and I think that's very dangerous.”
- U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, Missouri's 5th Congressional District
- State Sen. Rick Brattin, Republican nominee for Missouri’s 5th Congressional District
- Brian Ellison, KCUR senior news analyst
