The Missouri Legislature is expected on Wednesday to begin the process of redrawing the state’s congressional maps to favor Republicans, following a campaign from President Trump that began in Texas and has now shifted to the Midwest.
A special legislative session, called last week by Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, will begin at noon. Lawmakers are expected to debate the bill next week.
The proposed redrawing of the maps is part of a broad effort by the Trump administration to gain an advantage in midterm elections next year. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a newly gerrymandered map for Texas’ U.S. House districts into law last week, declaring that the state’s congressional delegation would soon include more Republicans.
Republicans already hold six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats, but expect to gain another one after the redistricting. Missouri has a Republican supermajority in the Legislature, and the redrawing of the maps is likely to have wide support from the state’s Republican lawmakers.
“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.”
The map proposed by Mr. Kehoe last week, which he called “the Missouri First Map,” would split Missouri’s 5th Congressional District in Kansas City while extending it into deeply Republican, and deeply rural, central Missouri.
Democrats have protested the move, saying it would deny representation to many of the 40 percent of Missouri voters who did not vote for Mr. Trump.
“This attempt to gerrymander Missouri will not simply change district lines, it will silence voices,” said Representative Emanuel Cleaver, a veteran Democrat who represents Kansas City, who added that “state lawmakers would be working to drown out Missouri voices in favor of a single man a thousand miles away.”
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has responded by pressing the California Legislature to approve a new map that could flip as many as five Republican House seats to Democrats. That map would require approval in November by California voters.
Republicans in Indiana are expected make a redistricting push of their own at the prompting of Vice President JD Vance, who visited the state.
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. The latest moves significantly move up that timetable.
Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest.
The post Missouri Legislators To Start Special Session on Redistricting appeared first on New York Times.
