redistricting

This week, petitioners challenging Missouri's gerrymandered new congressional map submitted 305,000 signatures seeking to halt the law and put it up for a statewide vote. That's more than twice as many as needed. But a whole tangle of legal challenges lay ahead.

Opponents of Missouri's gerrymandered congressional map just submitted more than 305,000 signatures to force a vote on the plan. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins still has the chance to reject a referendum, but legal experts don't expect that move to succeed in court.

Opponents of the new map contended that lawmakers couldn't engage in mid-decade redistricting. But a Cole County judge ruled there's no explicit prohibition on the practice.

Missouri Republican leaders claimed the U.S. Constitution forbids state referendums on Congressional district plans. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, but the Missouri Secretary of State can still declare the petition unconstitutional under the state constitution.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected 90,000 signatures for a referendum on the newly redrawn congressional map, because they were collected before Gov. Mike Kehoe had signed the map into law. But the group People Not Politicians argues that the signatures are valid.

People Not Politicians, the citizen-led campaign seeking to overturn Missouri’s newly passed congressional map, must submit signatures to the Secretary of State this week. If accepted, the gerrymandered map will be blocked from taking effect before the 2026 election.

Republicans are on track to pick up an extra seat in Missouri during the 2026 elections after gerrymandering the state's congressional districts. However, a ballot petition campaign could halt and potentially overturn the map.

The group People Not Politicians has reportedly collected 200,000 signatures — almost 100,000 more than needed — to get a measure on the 2026 ballot. The ballot measure would give Missourians a chance to vote on the Trump-backed map that could deny 5th District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, one of two democrats in the state, his seat.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office argued that the anti-redistricting referendum attempt violates the state and U.S. constitutions by infringing on the legislature's sole authority to draw maps. The federal case is one of multiple legal battles over state lawmakers' mid-decade redistricting effort.

Without citing evidence, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway accused a signature-gathering company of “reportedly employing illegal aliens" in its efforts to overturn the gerrymandered congressional map. Hanaway said she's opened an investigation and referred the matter to ICE.

The complaint says that Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway did not have the authority to list the legislature as a plaintiff in a redistricting lawsuit without its input.

A three-judge federal panel struck down Texas' new congressional map on racial gerrymandering grounds. Challenges to Missouri's map don't involve the same type of claim.