Alison Patton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri has been ordered to use the 2022 congressional map for the November election after a Supreme Court decision on Friday, but a ballot question could change congressional districts after the election.
Missouri voters will see Proposition A on the ballot and will be asked if they approve of the 2025 “Missouri First” map known on the ballot as House Bill 1. Legal battles have ensued during the past year as critics called the map “gerrymandered” in favor of Republicans.
A ‘yes’ vote would mean Missouri redraws its current congressional districts from the 2022 map to the 2025 map. If passed, the 2025 map is likely to take effect 30 days after Proposition A is approved.
A ‘no’ vote would keep the 2022 congressional map.
The 2025 map was passed in a special session last year with the intention of replacing incumbent Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Kansas City) in District 5 with a Republican. Under that map, District 5 is drawn to go from Kansas City all the way to northern Boone County in Mid-Missouri, and it was likely to give Missouri seven Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and one Democrat, if it were to stand.
The group People Not Politicians filed numerous lawsuits to put the referendum on the ballot. Once it was certified and Proposition A was on the ballot, Missouri was told by the state’s Supreme Court that it had to use the 2022 map for the November election.
Even though Missouri voters will have to decide which congressional map they want, they will still have to vote for their candidate under the 2022 districts.
For example, a voter in Hallsville would vote for a congressional candidate in District 4, which includes incumbent Republican Rep. Bob Onder and Democratic candidate Jordan Herrera. That voter would also have to decide whether they want the 2022 map and remain in District 4, or switch to the 2025 map and switch to District 5.
Executive director of the group backing Proposition A, People Not Politicians’ Richard von Glahn, said he doesn’t see a way for Republicans to leave the November election with a 7-1 Republican majority, as the 2025 map was intended to do.
He expects District 5 to stay Democrat, and is keeping an eye on District 2, which could flip to a Democrat.
“I think the Second Congressional District in Saint Louis is also potentially competitive. So, I think the results that you will likely see out of Missouri in November will either be a 6-2 or a 5-3 [Republican to Democrat] ratio,” von Glahn said.
Freedom Principle Missouri President Byron Keelin said he supports Proposition A because the 2025 map represents the conservative values of Missourians better.
“We believe as an organization, [it] represents the voting views of Missouri and believes that we should have a map that reflects those voting values,” Keelin said.
Primary elections in August were held under the 2025 map, before the Missouri Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court firmly decided that the law didn’t allow November elections to be done the same. Leaving many voters and candidates feeling “disenfranchised.”
“The courts made a mockery of what the legislators are supposed to do when it comes to congressional maps, and they should have just said that you don’t get to undo something of that importance like that,” Keelin said.
A poll from St. Louis University shows many Missourians don’t know how they will vote on Proposition A.
Charles Zug, a political science professor at the University of Missouri, claimed many of the people tracking this issue don’t live in the state.
“I don’t think people are super dialed into this. I think the people who are dialed into this are not Missourians broadly. It’s partisan–Republicans, Democrats around the country–people with a national perspective who are thinking about what is the House going to look like in 2027,” Zug said.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump posted his response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Truth Social.
“The Supreme Court of the United States will just not let Missouri have an Election Victory,” Trump wrote. “I won Missouri BIG, all three times, and I couldn’t be more proud of doing so. A great place — I love you all!”
Zug said polling numbers are down for Trump leading up to the November election, and one of the things to consider is if voters see their representatives as being apart of the president’s party.
“Republicans are not, just in general, are not in an enviable position because their president is so unpopular right now,” Zug said.
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