Two Democrats have joined the race this week to challenge Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in the primary for Missouri’s 5th Congressional District. Both say they want to see more action from the person in the representative’s seat, especially as attacks from President Donald Trump ramp up.
This is the sixth time Cleaver has faced primary challengers since he was first elected in 2004. His latest challenge came in 2022, when he won 85% of the vote against Maite Salazar.
Jordan Herrera and Hartzell Gray, Cleaver’s new challengers, have announced their campaigns at a time when the seat could possibly be changed. Trump wants Missouri to join a mid-decade redistricting plan ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to make the district more conservative and make it harder for Cleaver to win reelection.
All three candidates are against redistricting, which could put the state in judicial limbo.
“I announced that I was going to run for reelection the night I won the last election,” Cleaver said. “That was to make sure that any rumors otherwise could be nipped in the bud right there on election night last year.”
Though the primary challengers and possible redistricting could make his race harder, Cleaver said his priorities have not changed. He said he wants to continue “working toward the fulfillment of what we say to people about the American dream.”
For Cleaver, who is a ranking member on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, that includes access to affordable housing.
“We’re watching young people lose the opportunity for homeownership every day,” Cleaver said. “The cost of housing has skyrocketed. We've got to find new ways of helping individuals who are interested in housing. In Washington, I'm kind of known as the housing guy.”
Cleaver — who participated in a town hall hosted by KCUR in April — said he wants to bring the area more federal money if reelected. He touted his record of securing federal money for things like the rebuilding of Parade Park, repairs at Independence Towers, where he supported residents on a rent strike over poor living conditions, maintenance work on the Independence Square and development projects in the 18th and Vine district.
Jordan Hererra: ‘Congress is not a retirement program’
Democrat Jordan Herrera launched his campaign in February of this year. As an openly gay candidate, one of his top priorities is protecting and expanding LGBTQIA+ rights. His other focuses include housing affordability, women’s and reproductive rights, immigration reform and health care cost reduction.
Herrera, now a lawyer, served in the United States Air Force for 18 years. He said Cleaver hasn’t done enough in his more than two decades in office for queer people, reproductive rights or immigration.
“If you've been in office for over two decades and you have not written so much as a single bill on these issues, then I have a problem with you staying in Congress,” Herrera said.
“Reelecting our incumbent tells every person of those communities who have not been represented, ‘You can wait another two more years until this person is comfortable enough to retire.’ Congress is not a retirement program.”
Herrera said constituents in Missouri’s 5th deserve a candidate who has more of a presence in the district, and criticized Cleaver for not being as active as he could be. He believes establishment Democrats are not capable of fighting Trump and his Republican allies.
Watching the Democratic response to Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress is one of the reasons Herrera decided to run against Cleaver. Herrera said watching Democratic lawmakers lead silent protests using signs saying “false” or shirts that read “resist” didn’t do enough to meet the moment.
“It's not that I have a lack of faith in their ability to lead or govern as a Democratic Party,” Herrera said. “It's just the stagnation and the complacency that's really the more upsetting thing for me.”
Hartzell Gray: ‘This is a pro-people campaign’
Democrat Hartzell Gray launched his campaign this week and has been endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of America. He said he chose to run to give the people in Missouri’s 5th more power over the seat than they currently have.
His primary issues include universal health care, climate change, affordable and public housing, a $20 federal minimum wage, reproductive rights and reparations. Gray said he wants more action from the 5th District representative, and that “this is not an anti-Cleaver campaign, this is a pro-people campaign.”
“This moment doesn't require us to get back to a status quo, this moment requires an unapologetic progressive,” Gray said. “This is a campaign rooted in our people. We have done so much history together, and we have so much more to do, and none of that can include platitudes.”
Gray, a former host for KCUR 89.3, said growing up in a working class family in Kansas City makes him qualified to represent the people in the district. He said the Trump presidency is part of the reason he decided to run because he believes there needs to be someone willing to wage a “progressive fight” against the administration.
Like Herrera, Gray said he will not take any money from corporate political action groups for his campaign. He wants his grassroots campaign to reflect the people in the area. He also wants to make sure Missouri’s 5th gets more attention on a national level.
“In a ruby red state, we are a bastion of blue,” Gray said. “The heartland should be the heartbeat of this country. We should be on television every day. Everyone should know the voice of the representative from Missouri's 5th and they don't know that right now. And if they don't know who that person is, then they don't know the stories of the people whose seat that occupies.”
Possible changes in the district
All three candidates strongly oppose the Trump-led effort to redistrict Missouri. The president is publicly urging Texas to overhaul its congressional map so Republicans can win an additional five seats. Republican lawmakers in Missouri have confirmed that Trump is asking the same of them to oust Cleaver from his seat.
If redistricting occurs, it would likely take place in a special session in the fall. That could severely impact the race for the 5th District. If redistricting was successful, the state legislature would likely split Kansas City up into the 4th and the 6th districts.
Gray said this is an “assault on democracy” in the state and district.
“This is a war that's been declared from our statehouse in Jeff City. From the governor, a Trump sycophant, and also from the president himself, who has signed on to this and is trying to make this part of a move of this complete authoritarian takeover. It's illegal, it's a power grab, and it's bulls---.”
Herrera said he believes the move would be illegal and would dilute the state’s representation of minorities and urban residents in the western part of Missouri.
Herrera, who is Latino, used to work under Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, but was fired this month. He believes Bailey fired him for political reasons after he opposed mass deportations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a protest. He said the move to redistrict the area is another way Republican lawmakers are trying to silence dissenting voices like his.
“I know why I was fired. It was for political retribution,” Herrera said. “We are not in normal times. We're in a time in which there are political firings even at the state level. And so now here at the state level, now they're trying to redistrict and get rid of Missouri’s 5th.”
Cleaver said Democrats will fight redistricting “all the way into the highest courts of the land if necessary.” He said he believes redistricting is “borderline unconstitutional” because the state would change district lines in the middle of the decade, without relying on census numbers.
He said the redistricting plan was already rejected in Missouri last year because it was unpopular with lawmakers on all sides. Cleaver also said Republicans in Washington, D.C., who he would not name, have already told him that they disagree with the redistricting effort.
“Some people are only satisfied in tearing the country up, trying to generate hate across political lines, across religious lines, across racial lines,” Cleaver said. “They will do pretty much anything because they realize that their ability to win hinges on division and fear. All of that's tied up into this new redistricting obsession.”
