U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II was the first candidate to file for office Tuesday in Missouri, showing the 11-term Democratic incumbent will run for re-election despite uncertainty about the boundaries of the district he represents.
Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, became a target when Missouri Republicans, acting at the urging of President Donald Trump, redrew the map for the state’s eight congressional districts during a September special session.
Cleaver’s 5th District, which since 2022 has included almost all of Kansas City as well as portions of Clay and Jackson counties, now stretches east to Columbia through 14 additional counties. With the prospect of running in a district that now leans heavily Republican, four GOP candidates filed soon after Cleaver completed his paperwork.
Which voters will decide Cleaver’s fate — those in the district drawn last year, or the one that re-elected him in 2024 — is a question pending in state courts and local election authorities.
Cole County Circuit Judge Brian Stumpe is expected to rule soon on whether petitions filed for a referendum on the gerrymandered map mean it is not in effect for this year’s election. And local election authorities are checking those petitions to see if there are sufficient signatures to force a statewide vote.
“Normally, this would be an act of insanity for somebody to file for public office and not know where they’re serving if they should win,” Cleaver said. “But I have no idea what district I’m going to be in.”
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is telling congressional candidates that the districts drawn last year, which rearranged the boundaries of almost all of the state’s eight districts, are in effect.
“The new Missouri First map was passed by both the House and the Senate, signed by Gov. Kehoe, and I’ve been very clear that the new Missouri first map is in effect today,” Hoskins said.
The four Republicans who filed before noon on Tuesday are Sean Smith, a Jackson County legislator who ran against Cleaver in 2024; Taylor Burks, a former Boone County Clerk who made an unsuccessful run for the 4th Congressional District in 2022 and dropped out after a short-lived run for 3rd District in 2024; Brett Hueffmeier, a Kansas City attorney; and Brad Patty, a retired Army mechanic from Fayette.
Smith took just under 35% of the vote in 2024 and he’s eager to run in the new district.
“It does what we see our competition on the other side do all over the country, and that is to maximize the opportunity in the United States Congress for our side,” Smith said.
Patty said the district is a miniature version of the state.
“This district is a good representation of Missouri. It’s going to have rural counties, and it also has city voters, so I think it is well-mixed,” he said.
Burks, a commander in the Navy Reserve, said in a news release that he’s ready for the challenge.
“Today, we are fighting for America’s soul against career politicians like Emanuel Cleaver who have lost touch with the people they serve,” Burks said.
Cleaver said he is ready for the campaign regardless of its geography.
“My work ethic is not going to change, and neither will my commitment to the voters,” Cleaver said. “If I have to serve the people who live just outside of Columbia and Jefferson City, then I’ll do that.”
Filing day scene
The 5th District contenders are among 360 candidates who finished the process at the Missouri secretary of state’s office by 4 p.m., with dozens more expected to join the contests that this year include a statewide race for auditor, seven other congressional districts, 17 state Senate races and all 163 seats in the Missouri House.
The line of prospective candidates snaked through the third floor hallways of Hoskins’ Jefferson City office and his staff waived through five candidates at a time to file.
Filing closes on March 31.
Candidate filing day is the most optimistic day of the election season, state Rep. Bill Harbison, a Republican from Arcadia, said as he waited in line. Everyone who runs believes they can win, he said.
Harbison is seeking his second term and said he’s excited about filing again.
“You’re still energized, you’ve been up for about four hours, and yeah, you’re ready to go,” Harbison said.
It is possible for anyone who files to win, said Hoskins, who won his first race, for a seat in the Missouri House, in 2008. He knocked on every door in the district, he said, and overcame a limited campaign budget.
“When I came through in 2008, I had no idea what I was doing as far as filing for office,” Hoskins said. “I never knew in 2008 when I filed for state rep, that someday I would be secretary of state.”
Steve Baker of Raymore, a Republican who filed in the Missouri House’s 56th District, is challenging three-term incumbent state Rep. Michael Davis, a Republican from Belton.
When asked why, he did not state any specific reason he feels he can do better than Davis.
“I feel motivated to do it.”
Baker said he is a retired Marine and needs to be active.
“I like challenges, and I ran out of challenges since I retired,” he said.
Some candidates in line were there to seek higher office. State Rep. Don Mayhew, a Republican from Crocker, and state Rep. Ed Lewis, a Republican from Moberly, are trying to move to the state Senate in the 16th and 18th districts, respectively.
“You’ve probably seen the work ethic for our Senate for the last month or so, and and in prior years past, a lot of the stuff that we’ve been doing is frozen up because of a lack of moving things along over in the Senate,” Mayhew said. “So hopefully I can jump in there and help things move along.”
Lewis is running for the seat being given up by Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin of Shelbina. Lewis could seek a fourth term in the Missouri House but the Senate seat won’t be on the ballot for another four years, he noted.
“It was either now you’re going to run for Senate or in two years you’re not going to be able to continue to serve,” Lewis said.
Major races
Without a race for the U.S. Senate, the only statewide race on the ballot this year is for state auditor. Incumbent Republican State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick is seeking his second term and unseating him will be a big job for either of the two Democrats, Quentin Wilson of St. Louis and Gregory Upchurch of St. Charles, who filed to run against him.
If the gerrymandered map stays in place, the 5th District contest is likely to be the focus of both national parties throughout the fall. And the final result for the 5th District will come in November, when Cleaver faces the survivor of the GOP primary.
The 5th District Republican primary won’t be the only congressional primary with intense competition. In the 1st Congressional District in St. Louis, former U.S.Rep. Cori Bush filed against U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell for a rematch of their 2024 Democratic primary.
In an interview Tuesday, Bush said she blames Bell for the slow federal response after a devastating tornado hit St. Louis in May.
Bush, however, saved her harshest criticism for the Republican lawmakers who redrew the congressional map and want to make it harder to pass constitutional amendments by initiative.
“The one thing that pisses me off about that is that these same folks that feel like maybe people didn’t understand, maybe they didn’t didn’t know what they were voting on, but they are in the seat because of that same ballot, and they are not saying that the person didn’t know what they were doing they voted,” Bush said.
This year’s legislative contests will be a big test for Missouri Democrats. They are three seats short of breaking the GOP’s supermajority — two-thirds of all seats — in the Missouri House and two seats away in the Missouri Senate.
There are no incumbents running in 11 of the 17 Senate seats on the ballot, but only two, both GOP seats, are seen as competitive in November.
The 30th District in Springfield, held by state Sen. Lincoln Hough, and the 8th District in Jackson County, held by state Sen. Mike Cierpiot of Lee’s Summit — are seen as the most likely districts to flip.
In Springfield, the 30th District race pits state Rep. Betsy Fogle, a Democrat, against state Rep. Melanie Stinnett, a Republican. In the 8th District, House Speaker Jon Patterson will run in a GOP primary against former state Rep. Dan Stacy. The winner will face state Rep. Kerri Ingle, a Lee’s Summit Democrat.
But the primary could increase the number of new senators in January.
In the 20th District in Greene County, state Sen. Curtis Trent faces a well-funded primary challenge from Lori Rook, who came in third in the statewide primary for state treasurer in 2024. While Trent has $274,000 in his campaign account and another $500,000 in the 417 PAC, Rook opened her campaign with a $100,000 donation from her own funds.
Another southwest Missouri contest has elements of a rematch.
In the 32nd District, covering Jasper and Newton counties, Dr. Ellen Nichols filed in the Republican primary against state Sen. Jill Carter, a Granby Republican.
Nichols, a neurosurgeon, is the wife of former state Sen. Bill White, who lost a 2022 primary to Carter.
Nichols began the race by putting $250,000 of her own money into her campaign account. Carter had $52,000 in her campaign account on Dec. 31 and a PAC associated with her campaign, Show Me Values, was holding $73,000.
The race is not a grudge match to repay Carter for the 2022 primary, Nichols said as she filed.
“I certainly believe that I will be a better Senator than Jill Carter,” Nichols said. “We’ve lost a lot of ground in the sanctity of life over the last four years, and now we’re in a deep hole, and we’re going to have to do our way out of that. And I lay that in the legislature, especially the Senate.”
This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent.
