Senate approves new congressional map, initiative petition reform
Alison Patton
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri Republican senators passed a new congressional map and reformed the way citizens can get constitutional issues on ballots, over Democrats’ objections, during a special session in the Capitol on Friday.
The vote was 21-11 in favor of a new congressional map submitted by Gov. Mike Kehoe and titled the “Missouri First” map. A bill to set a higher standard to pass statewide ballot measures passed the Senate by the same vote.
The day began with Democratic stalling in the Senate. In the end, the Republican majority closed debate against Democrats’ wishes and held their final votes.
The map approved on Friday, which had already passed through the House, would redraw the state’s congressional map, splitting up the Democratic-safe Fifth District.
“Per instructions of the federal government the [legislature] has passed the DC drawn gerrymander exactly as instructed without a single Senator ever having a chance to file a bill or offer an amendment. Complete capitulation to Donald Trump,” Sen. Stephen Webber (D-Columbia) wrote on the social media website X after the vote.
Sen. Doug Beck (D-St. Louis County) said Friday morning he intended to offer an amendment to start the proposed congressional map when the federal government releases the Epstein files. However, he didn’t get the chance to do so.
A Senate committee on Thursday heard testimony on the “Missouri First” map, and no one showed up in support of new congressional districts.
A lawsuit was filed in Cole County court on Friday challenging the new map before its approval. The plaintiffs include a Cole County resident and residents of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Fifth District. They contend the map is unconstitutional because the Missouri Constitution says districts should be redrawn every 10 years.
“We absolutely have the authority to do this,” Sen. Brad Hudson (R-Cape Fair) said. “Matter of fact, I would say not only do we have the authority, we have the responsibility to update to the congressional districts in Missouri to make sure that it reflects the will of Missourians.”
Hudson said the map will withstand any challenges.
Democrats want to overturn the map through a referendum or, as Beck calls it, a citizen’s veto.
“Everything outside the capital is set to start happening,” Beck said. “I am already going to start cutting up all campaign signs to put petitions online and petitions on there and start going out and collecting signatures.”
The current districts were approved in 2022.
HJR 3, which reforms Missouri’s intiative petition process, would require any constitutional amendment be passed by a majority statewide and in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.
The map bill will become law with Kehoe’s signature. Initiative petition reform will be voted on statewide.