Missouri Democrats and allied groups are racing to qualify a referendum to block a new Republican-drawn congressional map that targets a Democratic-held Kansas City seat and could give the GOP a 7–1 edge in the state’s U.S. House delegation. The campaign must submit roughly 106,000 valid signatures by Dec. 11, 2025, to put the map on hold until voters decide its fate in 2026, amid mounting court fights and a coordinated national redistricting push.
Missouri’s Republican-led legislature approved a new congressional map during a special session in September, reshaping districts in a way that targets Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II’s Kansas City-based 5th District and aims to give Republicans seven of the state’s eight U.S. House seats. The bill, backed by former President Donald Trump, is scheduled to take effect Dec. 12 unless voters succeed in forcing a referendum, according to reporting by the Missouri Independent and the Associated Press.
Democrats and progressive groups quickly organized the People Not Politicians Missouri campaign to repeal the map through a citizen referendum. Under the state constitution, the group must gather at least 106,134 signatures, spread across six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts, by Dec. 11 — 90 days after lawmakers adjourned the special session — to put the law on the November 2026 ballot and keep the map from taking effect in the meantime. Organizers say they have already surpassed 100,000 signatures and are continuing to collect more, NPR member stations report.
The fight has drawn in significant national money from both parties. According to campaign finance reports reviewed by the Missouri Independent, People Not Politicians has raised nearly $5 million, much of it from out-of-state allies. Its largest donors include American Opportunity Action, which has contributed about $1.4 million; the Health Forward Foundation of Kansas City, with $750,000; the Global Impact Social Welfare Fund, at $500,000; and Open Society Action Fund, which has given $450,000.
On the Republican side, a new PAC called Put Missouri First formed on Oct. 31. Within days, it received $50,000 each from the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee, and later took in $2 million more — $1 million apiece from the conservative nonprofit American Action Network and Securing American Greatness, a Trump-aligned group founded by longtime adviser Taylor Budowich, Missouri Independent reporting shows. In all, the two primary campaign committees on either side of the referendum have raised almost $7 million.
The Missouri contest is unfolding in tandem with a broader national redistricting push. On Dec. 4, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas to use a new congressional map that could help Republicans win as many as five additional House seats in 2026, in a case NPR has described as part of an "unprecedented gerrymandering fight" launched by Trump urging Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their districts to benefit Republicans. Similar mid-decade efforts are underway in Missouri and other states, while Democrats have mounted their own countermeasures in places like California.
Inside Missouri, the legal and political stakes are mounting. At least six lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts over the special session and the new map, including challenges to when referendum signatures may be gathered and whether congressional maps can be subjected to a statewide referendum at all. One federal case backed by Republicans argues that the U.S. Constitution bars states from using referendums to overturn congressional redistricting plans, echoing arguments advanced by Texas officials and other GOP lawyers in the national battle.
Separately, the ACLU of Missouri and allied groups have sued in state court, contending that mid-decade congressional redistricting violates Missouri’s constitution, which they say allows redrawing maps only once every 10 years. Their lawsuit also argues that the new map splinters Kansas City into three districts and defies state requirements for compactness and fairness. Republicans counter that the revised lines are more compact and better reflect voter preferences, assertions they have also made in legislative debates and public statements.
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, has waded deeply into the dispute. Hoskins initially rejected the referendum petition on procedural grounds, arguing that Gov. Mike Kehoe had not yet signed the redistricting bill, then later approved a revised version. He has also asserted that signatures collected before his formal approval would not count and warned that gathering signatures too early could constitute a misdemeanor election offense. People Not Politicians contends the state constitution allowed it to start collecting signatures after lawmakers’ final vote, and is suing to ensure tens of thousands of early signers are not invalidated.
In parallel, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has filed a separate federal lawsuit asserting that a referendum on congressional redistricting conflicts with both the U.S. and Missouri constitutions. Her office has argued in court filings and public statements that allowing voters to overturn the map would improperly limit the legislature’s power over federal elections. Civil rights and voting-rights groups view the case as part of a coordinated Republican effort to shield partisan maps from direct democracy tools.
The volume of litigation has already slowed resolution of the underlying disputes. In November, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green postponed a key trial over the validity of early petition signatures and transferred the case to a new judge after Put Missouri First intervened at the last minute, winning a delay that critics say is designed to run out the clock before the Dec. 11 deadline. That case is one of multiple court challenges stemming from the September special session.
The hardball tactics have extended beyond the courtroom. Organizers with People Not Politicians and local outlets including the Kansas City Star have reported incidents in which canvassers gathering signatures were confronted or discouraged, including at least one unverified document that appeared to offer a cash payment to a canvasser to stop working on the petition. Campaign leaders say they have referred such episodes to lawyers and stress that the document has not been authenticated.
For now, both sides are preparing for a prolonged fight. If People Not Politicians submits enough valid signatures and courts allow the referendum to proceed, Missouri voters will decide in November 2026 whether to keep or overturn the map that would likely convert Cleaver’s district into a Republican-leaning seat and cement a 7–1 GOP advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation. Legal experts interviewed by local and national outlets have described the showdown as an example of “constitutional hardball,” reflecting how clashes over redistricting and direct democracy have become central to the struggle for control of Congress.
