Emanuel Cleaver II

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled last week that the congressional maps lawmakers drew in 2025 to give Republicans a boost in this year’s midterm elections will stay in effect. What could this mean for the political future of Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II?

After a Missouri Supreme Court decision Tuesday, the group People Not Politicians is urging Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to make a decision on whether its referendum on the 2025 congressional map will make the November 2026 ballot.

The Missouri Supreme Court has confirmed a redrawn congressional map that takes aim at the state’s 5th District, a longtime Democratic stronghold. Incumbent Congressman Emanuel Cleaver now prepares for a slate of new challengers to his seat.

The high court also rejected lawsuits contending that the new lines passed in 2025 were not compact as required by law.

All of Cleaver's past elections have been in his Kansas City backyard. This time, because Republican lawmakers gerrymandered the 5th congressional district, he’s facing the prospect of having to stump for votes from Troost Avenue all the way to Columbia.

Candidates are filing to represent Kansas City with a run for Missouri's 4th, 5th and 6th districts under a redrawn congressional map. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas won't be among them.

Cole County Judge Brian Stumpe ruled that the plaintiffs in the case did not have standing to file suit.

The Republican-drawn congressional map divides Kansas City into three districts, and lumps the urban core with rural communities 200 miles away. While the map was upheld by a Jackson County judge, multiple other lawsuits against Missouri's mid-decade redistricting have yet to be decided.

People Not Politicians filed open-records requests to review the collected signatures and says the minimum number required for a statewide referendum should be validated by the Missouri secretary of state.

The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday with multiple airstrikes, with an Israeli airstrike killing Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. President Trump has long called for regime change and decried the threat of Iran's nuclear capability.

Missouri state Sen. Rick Brattin, of Harrisonville, is running for the 5th congressional district even though he does not currently live there. The Kansas City-area race is attracting a big list of Republican hopefuls because it was redrawn to include rural areas hundreds of miles away.

Dozens of U.S. House and Senate members boycotted President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday. But both Cleaver and Rep. Sharice Davids, Democrats who represent the Kansas City metro, attended.