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Redistricting in Missouri ahead of the 2026 elections

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Missouri is considering mid-decade U.S. House redistricting. Click here to read more about the ongoing redistricting effort in Missouri and other states.
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Redistricting
State legislative and congressional redistricting after the 2020 census
General information
State-by-state redistricting procedures • Majority-minority districts • Gerrymandering
The 2020 cycle
United States census, 2020 • Congressional apportionment • Redistricting committees • Deadlines • 2022 House elections with multiple incumbents • New U.S.House districts created after apportionment • Congressional maps • State legislative maps • Lawsuits • Status of redistricting after the 2020 census
Redrawn maps
Redistricting before 2024 elections • Redistricting before 2026 elections
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BP-Initials-UPDATED.png Redistricting is the process of enacting new district boundaries for elected offices, particularly for offices in the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures. This article chronicles the 2020 redistricting cycle in California.


Missouri's eight United States representatives and 197 state legislators are all elected from political divisions called districts. District lines are redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. Federal law stipulates that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Congressional districts
Mid-decade redistricting in Missouri ahead of the 2026 elections is ongoing.

On August 29, 2025, Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) called a special legislative session for congressional redistricting.[1] The proposed map would aim to net one additional Republican U.S. House seat by drawing parts of Kansas City into surrounding rural districts.[1][2] The special session began on September 3, 2025.[3] The Missouri House approved the map by a 90-65 vote on September 9, 2025.[4] The Missouri Senate approved the map by a 21-11 vote on September 12, 2025.[5] Heading into the redistricting effort, Republicans represented six of Missouri's congressional districts, and Democrats represented two.

Click here for more information about the congressional maps enacted in Missouri after the 2020 census.

Legislative districts
State legislative redistricting in Missouri after the 2020 census has concluded.

Missouri completed its legislative redistricting on March 15, 2022, when the state’s Judicial Redistricting Commission filed new state Senate district boundaries with the secretary of state.[6] Missouri was the 43rd state to complete legislative redistricting. The House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission unanimously approved the state House’s district boundaries on Jan. 21.[7] These maps took effect for Missouri’s 2022 legislative elections.

Click here for more information about the state legislative maps enacted in Missouri after the 2020 census.

For a complete overview of redistricting in Missouri after the 2020 census, click here.

Summary

See also: Redistricting in Missouri after the 2020 census

This section lists major events in the post-2020 census redistricting cycle in reverse chronological order. Major events include the release of apportionment data, the release of census population data, the introduction of formal map proposals, the enactment of new maps, and noteworthy court challenges. Click the dates below for additional information.

Court challenges

See also: Redistricting lawsuits in the 2020 redistricting cycle

This section will include information regarding legal challenges to enacted maps.

For more information about redistricting lawsuits in Missouri, click here.

Enacted maps

Enacted congressional district maps

See also: Congressional district maps implemented after the 2020 census

On August 29, 2025, Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) called a special legislative session for mid-decade congressional redistricting and proposed a map that would draw parts of Kansas City into surrounding rural districts.[1] The special session began on September 3, 2025.[3] The Missouri House approved the maps on September 9, 2025, by a 90-65 vote.[4] The Missouri Senate approved the map by a 21-11 vote on September 12, 2025.[5]

Missouri had previously enacted new congressional district boundaries on May 18, 2022, when Gov. Mike Parson (R) signed them into law. According to Rudi Keller of the Missouri Independent, "No change in the partisan makeup of the Missouri delegation, currently six Republicans and two Democrats, is expected as a result of the map." Keller also wrote, "nine counties that have shifted almost wholly or entirely into new districts. Boundaries shifted in the five large-population counties that were previously split and a new split was introduced in Boone County in central Missouri."[8] This map took effect for Missouri’s 2022 congressional elections.

The Missouri House of Representatives approved the final version of the new congressional districts on May 9, 2022, by a vote of 101-47. Eighty-six Republicans and 15 Democrats approved the new map and 28 Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against it.[9] The state Senate approved the legislation (known as HB 2909) on May 11, 2022, by a vote of 22-11. Sixteen Republicans and six Democrats voted to approve the new map and seven Republicans and four Democrats voted against.[10]

After the Senate passed the maps, Keller wrote, "The first plan, released in December with backing from the Republican leaders of both chambers, essentially kept the partisan breakdown of the state’s delegation unchanged, with six safe Republican districts and two Democratic districts in Kansas City and St. Louis. The House passed that bill in January and, after weeks of on-and-off debate, the Senate passed a significantly altered version in late March. The seven members of the Senate’s conservative caucus demanded a map that cracked the Kansas City district and combined it with a huge swath of rural counties to make it possible for the GOP to capture the seat. The “6-2” vs. “7-1” debate came to a head in February when the conservative caucus began a filibuster that blocked progress not only on the redistricting plan but also on basically every other bill. At one point, two Republican Senators got into a shouting match and had to be physically separated."[11]

Enacted state legislative district maps

See also: State legislative district maps implemented after the 2020 census

Missouri completed its legislative redistricting on March 15, 2022, when the state’s Judicial Redistricting Commission filed new state Senate district boundaries with the secretary of state.[12] Missouri was the 43rd state to complete legislative redistricting. The House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission unanimously approved the state House’s district boundaries on Jan. 21.[13] These maps took effect for Missouri’s 2022 legislative elections.

The Senate Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission failed to submit proposed maps to the secretary of state's office by the December 23, 2021, deadline. Therefore, responsibility for developing Senate district boundaries was assumed by the Missouri Judicial Commission for Redistricting.[14] The judicial commission released their final plan and sent it to the secretary of state's office on March 15, 2022. The commission’s chair, Missouri Appeals Court Justice Cynthia Lynette Martin, said in a press release, "The Judicial Redistricting Commission’s work has been thorough and labor intensive, and was purposefully undertaken with the goal to file a constitutionally compliant plan and map well in advance of the commission’s constitutional deadline to avoid disenfranchising voters given the candidate filing deadline and the deadline for preparing ballots."[15] Scott Faughn of The Missouri Times wrote that "The biggest difference in this map and that previous map is that it shifts the weight of some of the districts from rural weighted districts to evenly split districts and even enhances the suburban influence inside several republican seats." He added, "the new map produces 7 solid democratic districts, and 3 likely democratic districts. On the republican side the new map produces 18 solid republican districts, and 3 more likely republican districts," with two competitive districts when the current incumbents no longer seek office.[16]

The House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission unanimously approved new state House district boundaries on January 19, 2022. Fourteen of the commission's 20 members were required to approve the plan. If the commission was unable to agree on a redistricting plan by January 23, 2022, authority over the process would have transferred to the Missouri Judicial Commission for Redistricting.[17] In a press release issued after the map was finalized, commission chair Jerry Hunter said, "I want to personally thank all of the commissioners for the hard work that was put in by the commissioners and, obviously, as all of you know, the supporting individuals that have been instrumental to helping get this map done on both sides – on both the Democratic and Republican sides."[18] Rudi Keller of the Missouri Independent wrote, "Of the 163 districts..., there are 38 where Democrats should have the advantage, 97 where Republicans are dominant and 28 districts with past election results showing less than a 10% advantage for either party."[17]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 KCUR, "Missouri governor begins redistricting process after Trump pressure. Kansas City is the target," August 29, 2025
  2. ↑ Governor of Missouri, "Missouri First Map," accessed September 4, 2025
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 STLPR, "Missouri legislators kick off special session on redistricting and limiting ballot amendments," September 3, 2025
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fox2Now, "Missouri House passes redistricting, ballot question reforms," September 9, 2025
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 CNN, "Missouri lawmakers give final approval to map targeting a Democratic House seat," September 12, 2025
  6. ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "Final Senate Statewide Judicial Redistricting Commission Letter; March 15, 2022," accessed March 22, 2022
  7. ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "Final House Apportionment; January 20, 2022," accessed March 22, 2022
  8. ↑ Missouri Independent, "Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signs new congressional redistricting plan," May 18, 2022
  9. ↑ Missouri House of Representatives, "101st General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session (HB2909)," accessed May 24, 2022
  10. ↑ Missouri Senate, "Journal of the Senate, May 11, 2022," accessed May 24, 2022
  11. ↑ Missouri Independent, "Missouri Senate adjourns early after passing congressional redistricting map," May 12, 2022
  12. ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "Final Senate Statewide Judicial Redistricting Commission Letter; March 15, 2022," accessed March 22, 2022
  13. ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "Final House Apportionment; January 20, 2022," accessed March 22, 2022
  14. ↑ 'Missouri Secretary of State, "Supreme Court Appointment for Judicial Commission for Redistricting," January 11, 2022
  15. ↑ Missouri Office of Administration, "Judicial Redistricting Commission Releases Tentative State Senate Redistricting Plan, Map," March 14, 2022
  16. ↑ The Missouri Times, "TWMP Column: New Senate map district by district," March 16, 2020
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Missouri Independent, "Bipartisan commission approves new Missouri House districts," January 20, 2022
  18. ↑ Missouri Office of Administration, "House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission Files Final Redistricting Plan with Secretary of State," January 24, 2022
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