With the 2026 Missouri legislative session winding down, Gov. Mike Kehoe told reporters on Thursday that he's pleased this year was more productive than many expected.
"The session was about making Missouri safer, stronger and more competitive and more accountable to the people we serve," Kehoe said. "It was about keeping our promises and laying a foundation for growth."
After a 2025 session filled with bitter acrimony between Republicans and Democrats, Kehoe said legislators managed to work together to pass wide-ranging public safety and health care legislation. The GOP-controlled legislature also finished work early on his top priority: getting a ballot measure to voters expanding the sales tax as a way to eliminate the income tax.
"This is a transformational moment for our state, and it's about more than just taxes. It's about growth," Kehoe said. "It's really about competitiveness, and it's about sending a message across the country that Missouri will compete and Missouri will win."
During Kehoe's news conference, Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer credited Democratic Sen. Stephen Webber of Columbia for providing a clear line of communication between the two caucuses. The Senate sped up its business after the two parties came to an agreement to, among other things, require more signatures to forcibly cut off debate.
"We had a bunch of candid, honest conversations with our Democratic colleagues, worked with them collaboratively on a few pieces of legislation that were important to them that we were agreeable to as well," Luetkemeyer said.
Sen. Brian Williams, D-St. Louis County, said the 2026 session, which ends at 6 p.m. Friday, was an opportunity to do things: admit that the last session was a "failure to Missourians" and have the Republican Party "look itself in the mirror and say: 'Are we going to govern? Are we going to uphold Donald Trump's agenda?'"
"And I believe our colleagues came together and recognized that we need to govern in Missouri and not prioritize some of the rhetoric that's happening at the federal level," Williams said.
Key aspect of agenda up to voters
It won't be known right away whether Kehoe's plan aimed at ending the state's income tax goes into effect. He said he hasn't decided whether to put the ballot item in the August or November election.
"I think it's fair to say there's multiple questions that will appear in the fall ballot," said Kehoe, who will decide on whether to move proposed constitutional amendments next week. "We're trying to figure out what that landscape looks like."
Kehoe also said even if voters rejected the proposal, the session would still be a success.
"We campaigned on this. We looked Missourians in the eye and said: 'We believe this is a good thing for our state, makes us competitive, lets you keep more of your own money,'" Kehoe said.
The governor said he was reviewing the state's budget, which appropriated less money than the last fiscal year's. Kehoe can veto individual items in the budget.
"We have to get back to the basics in our state budget," Kehoe said. "Missouri must continue living within its means, just like Missouri families do and preparing for the realities ahead."
No special session on map, or anything else
Kehoe told reporters that he doesn't plan to call the legislature back for any special sessions, including on another redraw of the state's congressional lines.
Southern states like Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee rushed to create new maps after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened protections for majority-minority districts. Some Republicans, including Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, have called for transforming the state's St. Louis-based 1st Congressional District into a more GOP-leaning seat.
"Right now, I think we would like Missourians to have a chance to vote on the Missouri First map," said Kehoe, referring to a map passed last year that seeks to oust Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II.
Kehoe was referring to a potential referendum on whether that 2025 plan should stay in place. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the submission of signatures from the group People Not Politicians did not prevent the 2025 map from being automatically suspended.
Hoskins said he likely won't decide the fate of that referendum until around Aug. 4, which is the date of the state's primary. The GOP statewide official has rejected calls from People Not Politicians to make a decision right away to avoid potential legal chaos.
Kehoe said he supports Hoskins waiting the full amount of time to decide on the referendum's fate. "Secretary of State Hoskins has a lot of responsibility. I respect the timing that he determines is appropriate for that," he said.
Copyright 2026 St. Louis Public Radio
