As a national redistricting battle heats up between Republicans and Democrats, Missouri is one of several other red states that could be poised to play a key role.
In Nebraska, Ohio and now, South Carolina, there are signs that Republicans may be willing to try to give President Donald Trump what additional congressional seats they can. And some of Missouri’s Republican leaders have a growing appetite to call a special session to redistrict — but others are balking, potentially making it a test case for how Republicans feel about letting the redistricting battle play out in their own backyard.
One of the state’s Republican leaders, Senate President pro tempore Cindy O’Laughlin, told NOTUS in a statement that she’ll do whatever Gov. Mike Kehoe requests.
“There’s been speculation about a potential special session on redistricting, but no decision has been made at this time. That responsibility lies with Gov. Kehoe, and I support him in whatever path he believes is best for the state,” O’Laughlin said. “If the governor calls a special session, the Senate will be ready to engage in those discussions.”
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But on Friday during an interview with a local radio station, O’Laughlin said she knew there were reservations among her colleagues about going to such measures.
“The Senate doesn’t like to do something out of the ordinary like that, because it’s viewed as not listening to the other side, not working with other people, and I understand why they would feel that way,” she said.
Kehoe’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment, but he expressed interest in the plan Tuesday and said he was in talks with Trump administration officials. The state’s Republicans are also reportedly facing pressure from the White House.
One state legislator, Missouri House Speaker pro tempore Chad Perkins, expressed concerns that it would be “out of character” for his delegation to move forward with redistricting, given their approval of the state’s current map just three years ago, the Missouri Independent reported. Then he reportedly received a call from the White House the day after that story was published, in which an official told him the matter was important to Trump.
“If you’re a Republican state senator, a Republican state representative,” Perkins told the outlet, “you don’t want to be on the wrong side of this president.”
But there are other signs of hesitation in pursuing redistricting from Republicans in the state.
“I started thinking about, what if the tables were turned and the Democrats had the majority?” Republican state Sen. Mike Moon told the Independent. “If we’re honest with ourselves, I would say that we would not want the tables turned the other way. And you won’t get many people to say that publicly.”
Missouri has 34 state senators, 24 of whom are Republicans. A new map would only take approval from 18, and they may well be forced to return from their other jobs to vote on a new map. If a proposal materializes, it’s likely to look like the one state legislators easily rejected in 2022, instead approving a map that preserved the state’s 6-2 balance of Republicans to Democrats in the U.S. House.
But the same hard-line conservatives who put up that fight, and even led a 31-hour filibuster in the state’s Senate chamber, are once again leading the charge, arguing the map Missouri ended up with isn’t conservative enough.
Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat who’s been in Congress since 2005, is poised to be a political casualty if Republicans move forward with a redistricting plan that would favor their party. With his party’s hands tied in the state, he’s urging Democrats elsewhere to be just as aggressive as Republicans.
“The plan is to respond. It won’t be tit for tat. If they go ahead with all of that mess in Texas, then California’ll respond,” Cleaver said, referring to the proposed map Texas Republicans are hoping to vote on whenever enough Democrats return. “If they do Missouri, then another state is gonna respond.”
He said he’s always stood for fair representation, but argued now it’s do or die — especially for his Black constituents who he felt could be left unrepresented if his state’s Republicans move forward.
“We simply cannot afford to allow people to dismantle this democracy without a serious response,” he added. “We don’t want this to happen.”
Some state Democrats argue that Missouri Republicans moving forward would hand them a messaging layup.
Missouri state Rep. Ray Reed told NOTUS he doubts Republicans can make the case that their party — which currently controls most state legislatures, as well as the White House and both chambers of Congress, on top of enjoying a conservative majority on the Supreme Court — needs to make drastic moves in order to fend off Democratic influence.
“Democrats can make the case that this is a power grab that negatively impacts diverse communities,” Reed wrote in a statement. “When you talk to voters about fairness, about the right to be seen and heard, they get it. Too many have lived with the consequences of bad maps.”
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