The GOP just got big news for the upcoming midterms. A Missouri judge has rejected an effort to put the state’s new congressional map before voters, clearing the way for Republican-drawn districts backed by President Donald Trump to remain in place for the November midterm elections.
Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled Wednesday that Missouri’s constitutional referendum provisions “do not apply to congressional redistricting enacted by the General Assembly,” siding with Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who had refused to certify a petition seeking a statewide vote on the new boundaries, reports Fox News.
Green ordered that the congressional map “remains in full force and effect for the 2026 general election.”
The ruling is a significant victory for Missouri Republicans and for Trump, who has urged Republican-controlled states to redraw congressional districts ahead of the midterms as the GOP fights to preserve its narrow House majority. Plaintiff Richard von Glahn appealed the ruling Wednesday evening.
The dispute grew out of a special legislative session called last year by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, during which lawmakers approved new congressional boundaries designed to improve the GOP’s chances of capturing another House seat.
Missouri currently sends six Republicans and two Democrats to Congress. The new map takes aim at the Kansas City-area district represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who has served in Congress since 2005.
Under the revised boundaries, portions of Kansas City were shifted into two neighboring Republican-held districts while Cleaver’s remaining 5th Congressional District was extended east into more rural and Republican-leaning parts of the state. An Associated Press analysis estimated that roughly 59 percent of voters in the newly configured district had not previously lived in the 5th District.
The new boundaries have already been used once. Missouri conducted its August congressional primaries under the revised map, with Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin winning the GOP nomination in the 5th District. Cleaver was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Opponents, however, sought to give voters the final word.
The group People Not Politicians collected thousands of signatures for a referendum that would have placed the congressional map on the November ballot. State records showed the campaign had obtained enough valid signatures to satisfy the numerical requirement for reaching the ballot. Hoskins nevertheless rejected the petition on constitutional grounds, arguing that Missouri law does not allow voters to overturn congressional redistricting through the referendum process.
Green agreed.
The Missouri Constitution does not explicitly authorize a referendum on congressional redistricting, but neither does it expressly prohibit one. The state argued that drawing congressional districts is a responsibility assigned to the Legislature and therefore cannot be subjected to a referendum without specific constitutional authorization.
Republican organizations including the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and Missouri Republican State Committee joined the case in defense of the map.
Missouri has become one of the central battlegrounds in a broader mid-decade redistricting fight. It was the second Republican-controlled state, after Texas, to respond to Trump’s push for states to reconsider congressional boundaries before the 2026 elections. Republican legislatures in several other states have since followed with new maps of their own, while Democrats have pursued countermeasures where they control state government.
For now, however, Missouri’s new lines remain intact and voters will head into November using the same congressional districts that governed the August primaries.
