Missouri’s Congressional Map Returns to Earlier Lines After Supreme Court Order

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri voters will head into November’s general election under the congressional map used in 2022 and 2024, ending months of uncertainty after a Republican-led effort to strengthen the state’s representation in Congress triggered a series of lawsuits and conflicting court decisions.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s order Thursday effectively blocks the use of a new map approved by Missouri lawmakers and supported by President Donald Trump. The Republican-controlled Legislature had redrawn the districts in an effort to give the GOP a stronger chance of gaining an additional seat in the U.S. House.

Republicans currently hold six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats.

The revised map would have reshaped nearly the entire state’s congressional delegation. Only two districts would have remained largely unchanged, and just one — the St. Louis-based 1st District — was expected to remain firmly Democratic.

The biggest changes affected Kansas City’s 5th District, currently represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The new boundaries divided Kansas City among districts extending well beyond the city and into more conservative areas. The changes also added residents of Jefferson City, the state capital roughly 130 miles east of Kansas City, to the district.

The strategy reflected a broader Republican effort to compete more aggressively for congressional seats in states where redistricting could affect control of the U.S. House. Supporters said the map offered Republicans a better opportunity to win representation in areas that had previously been grouped with heavily Democratic communities.

The Supreme Court’s decision means voters who were temporarily moved into new districts will return to their previous districts for the general election.

For Leslie Moody, a 70-year-old retired chemist in Kansas City, the rapid changes have been difficult to follow. She voted in the recent primary but was unsure which candidates represented her district, other than knowing Cleaver was no longer on her ballot.

“It’s plain that it’s completely ridiculous,” Moody said.

Her neighborhood was briefly placed in the Republican-dominated 4th District before returning to the compact, Kansas City-centered 5th District.

The court ruling also restored the district of Carolyn McDowell, a longtime Republican activist in Jefferson City. Her home had been shifted from Republican Rep. Bob Onder’s district into Cleaver’s Democratic district under the revised map. She said the changes created confusion for voters and candidates but welcomed the decision to prevent the new boundaries from being used in November.

The new map “was unconstitutional when they even thought of it,” McDowell said.

Other voters expressed frustration with the process. Ashley Sadowski, a progressive independent in Kansas City, closely followed the litigation and even watched a state Supreme Court hearing involving Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. She said she studied candidates for the Democratic primary based on her longtime residence in the 5th District, only to learn that she would be voting there again in the general election after briefly being placed in the 4th.

“It’s just astounding to me how we all showed up in August to vote on a map that wasn’t legal,” Sadowski said.

The League of Women Voters of Missouri said it received relatively few calls about the shifting districts, though several voters complained that the revised map did not represent their communities as effectively as the earlier boundaries.

For residents such as Democrat Leslie French, the episode raised broader concerns about democratic stability. French, who lives in Platte City and remains in the Republican-dominated 6th District under either map, has attended anti-gerrymandering rallies and sometimes wears a Lady Liberty costume.

“It’s embarrassing,” she said.