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Rating one other victory for President Donald Trump within the high-stakes political battle between Republicans and Democrats over congressional redistricting.
GOP Gov. Mike Kehoe of Missouri on Sunday signed into regulation a brand new congressional map, Missouri First, that’s prone to hand Republicans an extra seat within the U.S. Home of Representatives forward of subsequent yr’s midterms elections.
Missouri, as soon as thought of a swing state that has dramatically shifted to the precise over the previous decade and a half, is the newest battleground within the congressional redistricting showdown after the passage of latest maps in GOP-dominated Texas and a redistricting push by Democrats in closely blue California.
“I used to be proud to formally signal the Missouri First Map into regulation as we speak forward of the 2026 midterm election,” Kehoe stated in an announcement. “We imagine this map greatest represents Missourians, and I respect the help and efforts of state legislators, our congressional delegation, and President Trump in getting this map to my desk.”
TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING PUSH TURNS MIDWESTERN STATE INTO NEXT POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND
Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe of Missouri, applauds whereas delivering the State of the State tackle Jan. 28, 2025, in Jefferson Metropolis, Mo. (AP Picture/Jeff Roberson, File)
Trump, in a social media assertion following passage within the GOP-dominated state legislature, known as the brand new map “FANTASTIC” and stated it “will assist ship an extra MAGA Republican to Congress within the 2026 Midterm Elections.”
The brand new map targets longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas Metropolis-area district by shifting it eastward to incorporate rural right-leaning voters. The brand new map would probably flip Cleaver’s seat and provides Republicans a 7-1 benefit within the state’s Home delegation.
Cleaver has vowed to take authorized motion if the brand new map is signed into regulation by the governor.
“I wish to warn all of us that in case you combat fireplace with fireplace lengthy sufficient, all you’re going to have left is ashes,” Cleaver stated earlier this month as he testified in entrance of a Missouri Senate committee.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver waits to talk towards a proposed congressional redistricting plan at a state Senate committee listening to Friday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Jefferson Metropolis, Mo (AP Picture/David A. Lieb)
And pointing to latest public opinion polling, he known as the redistricting plan “immensely unpopular.”
And Missouri Home Minority Chief Ashley Aune accused Republicans of pushing to “rig our maps and remove our illustration in Congress.”
ABBOTT CLEARS FINAL REDISTRICTING HURDLE AS TEXAS SENATE PASSES NEW TRUMP-APPROVED MAP
Kehoe’s announcement teeing up the particular session got here hours after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed into regulation a redistricting invoice handed by the Republican supermajority within the state legislature that goals to create as much as 5 right-leaning congressional districts on the expense of present Democrat-controlled seats within the reliably purple state.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, seen being interviewed by Fox Information Digital, lately signed into regulation a invoice that redraws the Lone Star State’s congressional districts. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox Information )
The efforts in Missouri and Texas are a part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad its razor-thin Home majority to maintain management of the chamber within the 2026 midterms, when the social gathering in energy historically faces political headwinds and loses seats.
Trump and his political staff are aiming to stop what occurred throughout his first time period within the White Home, when Democrats reclaimed the Home majority within the 2018 midterm elections.
Democrats are combating again towards the uncommon, however not unheard-of mid-decade redistricting.
State lawmakers in closely blue California have accepted a particular poll proposition this November to acquire voter approval to briefly sidetrack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting fee and return the facility to attract the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaks throughout a congressional redistricting occasion Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP)
The hassle in California, which goals to create 5 extra Democratic-leaning congressional districts and counter the shift in Texas, is being spearheaded by two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s seen as a probable 2028 Democratic presidential contender.
With Democrats at present needing only a three-seat pickup in subsequent yr’s midterms to win again the Home majority, Republicans in Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Kansas and Nebraska are mulling their very own GOP-friendly redistricting plans forward of the 2026 elections. And right-leaning Ohio is underneath a court docket order to attract new maps forward of the midterms.
Democrats, as they push again, need to New York, Illinois and Maryland within the hopes of making extra left-leaning congressional seats.
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In Illinois and Maryland, the place governors J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore are discussing redistricting, Democrats hope to select as much as three extra left-leaning seats.
And Democrats might decide up a seat in Republican-dominated Utah, the place a decide lately ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to attract new maps after ruling that lawmakers 4 years in the past ignored an unbiased fee accepted by voters to stop partisan gerrymandering.
