Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has decided to follow orders from President Trump to redistrict Missouri’s congressional districts to dramatically favor Republicans. His new map splits Kansas City into three far flung congressional districts in a desperate bid to water down the Democratic votes that come out of the Kansas City region and to kick the 5th District’s Representative Cleaver out of office.
The new maps are gerrymandered to give Republicans solid odds of winning seven out of eight congressional districts, despite two Missourians voting for Democrats for every three that vote for Republicans.
Perhaps even worse for union members in Kansas City, Governor Kehoe is now also aiming to gut the ability of Missourians to use ballot initiative petition to directly change state law. This is widely understood to be the first step that allows Republicans to pass anti-union laws like right-to-work-for-less in the state. Without the power of the ballot initiatives, unions would not be able to fight back against a Republican push for right-to-work-for-less like before.
Gov. Kehoe is asking the Republicans, who completely control every branch of the Missouri government, to pass these new maps and make initiative petitions all but impossible during the special veto session slated to begin the second week of September.
This is a wildly unprecedented moment in Missouri history and it is unclear if this is even legal. Legal challenges will almost certainly emerge the instant new maps pass.
This has all been triggered due to President Trump’s fear that his unpopularity will result in Republicans losing the House of Represenatives in 2026.
The likely-new Missouri 5th, which extends from the eastern half of downtown Kansas City to just outside of the St. Louis-metro, including most of the Columbia, MO-metro area.
The neighborhoods that make up the Historic Northeast of Kansas City will now, absurdbly, be in the 6th Congressional District with the rest of Kansas City’s Northland, which borders both Illinois and Nebraska.
The western half of downtown has been drawn into the 4th Congressional District that extends south to the northern exurbs of Springfield.
The District Relative Voting Index (RVI) is a measurement that shows how many points a district is more Democratic or Republican than the country on average. So a +5 would be 5 points more Republican than the country is on average and a -5 would be 5 points more Democratic than the country is on average.
The RVI of each district has shifted:
MO-1 from -28.7 to -29.1 (Democrat)
MO-2 from +3.9 to +5.6 (Republican)
MO-3 from +13.3 to +9.9 (Republican)
MO-4 from +20.8 to +10.4 (Republican)
MO-5 from -12 to 8.2 (Republican)
MO-6 from +19.2 to +13.2 (Republican)
MO-7 from +21.2 to +21.1 (Republican)
MO-8 from +26.7 to +26.6 (Republican
These changes will make it extremely difficult for Democrats from Kansas City to win in any of the three districts, but theoretically still possible in a left-leaning election or with voting changes from area residents.
In St. Louis, Republicans plan to make the already very- Democratic Missouri 1st District more Democratic in order to shore up their strength in the Missouri 2nd, which was slowly drifting back to the Democrats.
“I have often wondered what will be the tipping point for people to have finally had enough. Trying to steal a congressional seat to stay in power and taking away citizens’ right to bring their ideas directly to the voters is 100% not acceptable. If you aren’t angry, you should be. You need to pay attention and organize to fight back,” said Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel.
Opponents of Gov. Kehoe’s radical actions believe that Missouri’s state Constitution is clear that new congressional maps are only to be drawn every ten years with the availability of new U.S. Census data.
Rep. Cleaver Speaks Out
“I have had the privilege and distinct honor of serving the people of Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District. I have always understood one truth: this seat does not belong to me. It belongs to the people. And today, that truth is under assault.
“President Trump’s unprecedented directive to redraw our maps in the middle of the decade and without an updated census is not an act of democracy – it is an unconstitutional attack against it. This attempt to gerrymander Missouri will not simply change district lines, it will silence voices. It will deny representation. It will tell the people of Missouri that their lawmakers no longer wish to earn their vote, that elections are predetermined by the power brokers in Washington, and that politicians – not the people – will decide the outcome.
“Roughly 40% of Missourians cast their ballots for Democratic candidates last year, and they deserve representation in the People’s House just as much as our Republican neighbors. Yet, in attempting to dismantle the Fifth District, state lawmakers would be working to drown out Missouri voices in favor of a single man a thousand miles away. It is my sincere hope that they will not give in to this short-sighted and irresponsible demand.
“But let us be clear: Should this effort move forward, we will not concede.
“I will not surrender the voices of the people who entrusted me to fight for them. The people of the Fifth District and I will fight relentlessly to ensure Missouri never becomes an antidemocratic state, where politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives. In the courts and at the ballot box, we will demand that the rule of law is upheld, our voices are heard, and democracy prevails.
“Our nation has endured wars, depressions, and great struggles for civil rights. And through it all, the principle that every vote counts has carried us forward. That principle is bigger than me, this seat, or any president looking to rig the rules for personal gain.
“This is the line we must not let them cross. This is the continuation of our unrelenting struggle for justice. I will fight with every ounce of strength I have to defend democracy – and practice prudence in the best interest of my constituents, Missouri, and the country we love.”
Kansas City Rallied Against Gerrymandering Ahead of Time
On August 20th, well over 500 community members gathered together at IBEW Local 124’s union hall for an emergency meeting to organize mass public opposition to President Donald Trump’s urging to unconstitutionally gerrymander up the metro ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The gathering is believed to be one of the largest events to occur at IBEW Local 124’s union hall in recent memory, with cars parking and filling up all the parking lots, the parking space, and continuing down the street to the stop light. Although barely visible in the photo below, a large standing crowd gathered behind the completely full seating area.
The event was organized by Stand Up KC, Missouri Workers Center, Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action, Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, Indivisible KC, and 50501 Kansas City.
“Voters pick our leaders, our leaders should not get to pick their voters,” said Terrence Wise, a low-wage worker and leader with Stand Up KC and Missouri Workers Center. “But Speaker Patterson is conspiring with President Trump to ram through an illegal plan to divide our communities and enrich the president and his billionaire friends — all while holding down our wages, raising our prices, and stealing away our paid sick days.”
He continued: “From Kansas City to the Ozarks, St. Louis to the Bootheel, the Branson Strip to the Hannibal riverfront, the river bluffs to the Prairies, we want our elected leaders to fight for our freedoms, not steal from us so they can line the pockets of an elite few. Just like we have been organizing our strength in numbers against the corporations we work for — which take in record profits by denying the chance for workers to make a good living and have a good life — only by joining together to confront the bullies from our statehouse to the White House who seek to control us will we protect our freedoms, our families, and our futures.”
The coalition meeting was the first in a larger series of escalating actions targeted at Speaker Patterson, who represents the Kansas City suburbs, an area most at risk in Missouri. In addition to Patterson’s attempts to advance an illegal gerrymander, earlier this year he played a key role in overturning Proposition A, a voter-approved measure won by workers and allies statewide to guarantee earned paid sick leave. The measure was supported by 61 percent of the Speaker’s own constituents.
Reverend Rodney Williams, Pastor of Swope Parkway United Christian Church and Tri-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, also gave remarks at the meeting.
“We are gathered here tonight because America is in the midst of a moral emergency. An emergency of epic proportion. Not one, not two, not three, but every pillar of our democracy is simultaneously under attack.
Therefore, we’re here to stand and fight against Trump and Kehoe’s evil attempts to rig the ’26 election through the evil system called gerrymandering. To stop Donald Trump and the governor from further stealing our democracy.”
He continued: “America is standing at a crossroads of either moving us backwards toward a modern era of Jim Crow that caters to the elite and powerful or a nation moving forward toward a more perfect union that will birth the beloved community. And those of us that are here tonight in this public meeting have something to say about that: THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE SHALL BE THE SUPREME LAW. And what Donald Trump is trying to do is not for the welfare of the masses of people across America. It is only for the welfare of a select few.”
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
