Gov. Mike Kehoe of Missouri on Friday called a special legislative session to redraw congressional maps in his state to favor Republicans, becoming the first Republican-led state to follow Texas and join a push from the Trump administration to help the party keep control of the House in midterm elections.
He also called for the legislature to make it harder for state residents to pass citizen initiatives after Missouri voters approved measures deeply opposed by many of the state’s conservative politicians, like enshrining a right to abortion in the Missouri constitution.
“I’m calling for a special session on congressional redistricting and initiative petition reform to ensure our districts and Constitution truly reflect Missouri values,” Mr. Kehoe said. “This is about clarity for voters and ownership of our future.”
Mr. Kehoe and state Republican leaders want to carve out one more Republican seat by splitting Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District in Kansas City, a seat currently held by a veteran Democrat, Representative Emanuel Cleaver, over the objection of Democrats in the legislature. The map proposed by the governor on Friday, which he called “the Missouri First Map,” would crack the Fifth District apart while extending it into deeply Republican, and deeply rural, central Missouri.
Redistricting typically happens at the beginning of each decade, based on new census data that requires the reapportionment of House seats to match population shifts. But pressured by President Trump, Republicans are breaking with tradition. On Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a new congressional map drawn to give Republicans as many as five new House seats. Indiana Republicans are considering their own redistricting push, as are Republican leaders in Florida.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California is so far the only Democrat to have responded in kind. Under his prodding, the California legislature this month approved a new map that could flip as many as five Republican House seats to the Democrats, though that gerrymandered map must be approved in November by California voters.
Republicans currently hold only a slim majority in the House and are determined to keep it to ward off efforts from Democrats to block legislation.
The Trump administration has lobbied Mr. Kehoe to call for redistricting and pressured Republicans in the state legislature. In late July and early August, Trump allies placed calls to multiple individual legislators in Missouri, imploring them to take up mid-decade redistricting, according to a person familiar with the calls. The White House did not respond to questions about the calls.
In his statement announcing the special session, Mr. Kehoe also called on the Republican-led legislature to pass a law adding new restrictions to the ballot measure process, which has been used by citizens in Missouri to pass new laws such as raising the minimum wage in 2018 and in 2020 to revise redistricting processes. His proposals, including requiring that a ballot measure be adopted by a simply majority of voters both statewide and in each congressional district, would make ballot measures more difficult to pass.
“For far too long, Missouri’s Constitution has been the victim of out-of-state special interests who deceive voters to pass out-of-touch policies,” Mr. Kehoe said. “It’s time we give voters a chance to protect our Constitution.”
Republicans already hold six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats. Missouri has a Republican supermajority in the legislature, making it fertile ground for redistricting.
State Representative Michael Johnson, a Democrat from Kansas City and the chairman of the Black Caucus, called the redistricting plan a “shameful power grab.”
“This is not just an attack on our district,” he said. “It is an attack on fairness, on representation. It is an attack on our people and the will of our people.”
The Democratic National Committee released a statement condemning the effort minutes after Mr. Kehoe made his announcement.
“Another Republican governor just caved to the demands of Donald Trump at the expense of Missouri families and American democracy,” said Ken Martin, the chairman of the D.N.C. “Time and time again, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has undermined the voice of Missouri voters. Now he is attempting to dilute their power altogether by removing the ability of Missourians to stand up against this power grab.”
Nick Corasaniti contributed reporting.
Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest.
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