Missourians Just Threw A Big Wrench In Donald Trump's Redistricting Push

Source: Huff Post

Dec 11, 2025, 02:17 PM EST | Updated 2 hours ago



A Missouri group opposed to a new congressional map devised by state Republicans to eliminate a House seat held by Democrats turned in 305,000 signatures on Tuesday to put that map on the ballot in November 2026, potentially dealing a major setback to President Donald Trump’s push to use new district lines in red states to hold onto control of Congress after the midterms.

After submitting triple the required 107,000 signatures for a ballot initiative ahead of Thursday’s deadline, “the map is frozen,” according to Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians, the group behind the initiative. That means Republicans’ mid-decade gerrymander cannot be used in the 2026 midterm elections unless the elected Republican secretary of state deems the signatures the group gathered insufficient. Instead, voters will decide whether the map should take effect in 2028.

Missouri followed Trump’s orders in September when it chopped up the Kansas City seat held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and divided the city into three GOP-leaning districts, joining Texas and North Carolina in drawing new lines meant to favor Republicans.

When state Republicans did this, they were following Texas’s lead, where Trump had pressured the state legislature to redraw five congressional districts to be more favorable to the GOP. North Carolina Republicans also redrew their map to eliminate one Democratic-held seat. But Democrats fired back. California passed an initiative to allow it to eliminate five GOP-held seats, negating the GOP’s intended gains in Texas. Meanwhile, a court in Utah forced the state to draw a new safe Democratic seat for the 2026 elections. With Missouri’s map likely suspended for 2026, it appears that the redistricting war has been fought to a draw ― for now.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/missouri-trump-redistricting_n_693b07a1e4b053d6e8f0e259?origin=home-latest-news-unit