Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe says he has no regrets for pushing forward a redraw of the state's congressional lines — even though opponents of the Donald Trump-backed plan prevented it from going into effect for the November election.
Kehoe called lawmakers into special session last year to redraw the state's congressional map in an attempt to oust Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Trump pressured Missouri Republicans into the redistricting gambit to prevent Republicans from losing control of the House in midterm elections.
But redistricting foes gathered enough signatures to place the map up for a referendum. And that meant, based on the Missouri Constitution, the new lines never went into effect and can't go into effect unless voters approve Proposition A in November. The U.S. Supreme Court effectively blocked an effort to use the 2025 map this election cycle on Friday. Instead, Missouri will use a map passed in 2022 with a safe seat for Cleaver.
Kehoe told reporters Tuesday at an event in St. Peters that the redistricting push was still worthwhile, even though Cleaver will likely win another term and the entire saga produced protracted state and federal litigation.
"I would say it was a map that represents Missouri's values much better than what we had. But you don't know what the outcomes are going to be when you start down this journey," Kehoe said. "I think the legislature did a good job passing what was a more fair and balanced map for Missouri. The courts didn't see it that way."
The map passed last year had seven GOP-leaning districts compared to six in the 2022 map. The older map also features a less Republican version of the 2nd Congressional District, which takes in portions of the St. Louis metropolitan area.
Because of vacancies, Missouri House Republicans never had enough votes to make the map go into effect right away which meant it was always vulnerable to a referendum. Asked if it was worth it to pursue the new congressional map knowing that the referendum process could eventually prevent it from going into effect this year, Kehoe said: "I think anytime you want to stick up for something you believe in, it's never an easy pass."
"So, like I said, Missouri's House and Senate members that were duly elected by their constituents felt this was the most fair drawing of the map, and that's what they put forward," Kehoe said.
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins ended up rejecting the redistricting referendum on Aug. 4, the day of the Missouri primary. That meant that Missourians voted using the 2025 map — and will use the 2022 map in the general election after the Supreme Court ruled the referendum had to go before voters.
While Hoskins has drawn scorn, including from the U.S. Supreme Court and Missouri Supreme Court, for rejecting the referendum in August, he received backing from high level Republicans such as Kehoe, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and members of the Missouri congressional delegation. The governor said Tuesday he stood by his support of Hoskins.
"I think Secretary Hoskins did a good job of trying to protect what he thought was right in that," Kehoe said. "And at the end of the day, we are where we are, and Missourians will be voting on a different map now in November than they did in August."
Kehoe unsure on how Proposition A will shake out
There is a chance that the 2025 map could become active if Missourians approve Proposition A on Nov. 3. But if they reject that measure, the 2022 map could be in effect until at least 2031.
Asked whether he thought Missourians would support having a more Republican-leaning congressional map, Kehoe replied: "I have not seriously seen any data or polling on Prop A so far, so I'm not up to speed on what that might look like."
"I'm sure hopeful people do want a map that reflects Missouri's values," Kehoe said.
Polling from St. Louis University and YouGov found that 35% of respondents would vote yes on Proposition A, compared to 32% voting no and 33% unsure. That effectively means that the contest determining the fate of the 2025 map is a dead heat.
"We'll see what Missourians say about that," Kehoe said. "Obviously there will be a lot of special interests that want to protect the current boundaries in the map that I think don't reflect Missouri's values as well. And so we'll see what that campaign looks like and let Missourians decide."
Even if Proposition A fails, it is possible that Missouri Republicans could pursue redistricting again in 2027. But implementing that plan could run into two obstacles: Amendment 6 states that Missouri lawmakers can't try and overturn the result of referendums without passing something with 80% of the legislature and a statewide vote. If Amendment 6 passes and Proposition A fails, a legal fight would almost certainly ensure to see if that threshold applies to congressional maps.
The other problem for redistricting proponents is the Missouri Supreme Court clearly stated that congressional maps are subject to the referendum process, meaning that redistricting opponents could just gather signatures again in 2027 to block a new map from going into effect.
"We'll have to see what the legislature thinks," Kehoe said of a future redistricting push. "Anytime you want to fight for what's right, it's usually worth it."
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