Missouri court allows mid-decade redistricting
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People gather to protest at the Missouri Statehouse last September. Photo: Tammy Ljungblad/Getty Images
A Missouri Supreme Court decision this week upholds a Republican-backed congressional district map that cuts through Kansas City.
The big picture: The map could give Republicans a stronger chance to pick up a KC-area seat in 2026.
Context: Congressional maps are usually redrawn once every 10 years after the U.S. Census.
- Lawmakers redrew the map last September in a rare mid-decade move, prompting lawsuits and splitting KC into three districts that could make the area more competitive for Republicans.
Driving the news: In a 4-3 decision on Tuesday, the court said Missouri's constitution requires redistricting after each census but does not prohibit lawmakers from doing it more often.
What they're saying: "Mid-decade redistricting is the art of looking for a cheap way to win elections that [Republicans] would otherwise lose," Congressman Emanuel Cleaver said in a statement to Axios.
- He said voters still have a path to weigh in through a referendum or at the ballot box.
The other side: Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, whose office defended the map, called the ruling a win.
- "The Missouri Constitution does not prohibit mid-decade redistricting, and the court rightly refused to read in a new limit on the legislature's power," she said in a statement.
Between the lines: Allen Rostron, associate dean at UMKC's law school, tells Axios the legal effect is narrow, but the political stakes are not.
- "The decision means it would be possible for the Missouri districts to be frequently redrawn," Rostron says. "Theoretically, if they wanted to continually redraw them, over and over, they could do so."
- Rostron says that kind of redraw is rare, saying "there was about a century where it just wasn't a thing that any states were doing."
State of play: People Not Politicians - Missouri, the campaign trying to force a statewide vote on the map, says the ruling will not change its campaign to block the map.
- "The ultimate power lies with the voters of our state," executive director Richard von Glahn said in a statement shared with Axios, pointing to the more than 300,000 signatures they submitted.
- A report from the Missouri Secretary of State's Office says those signatures were verified, though it is not a final certification.
Yes, but: Other challenges are still pending, including a case on whether the districts violate Missouri's compactness rules and another over whether the new map should remain blocked while referendum questions are resolved.
What's next: If the referendum reaches the ballot, Missouri voters could still get the final word on whether the map stands.