2026 Missouri Proposition A

Proposition A will appear on the November 3, 2026, ballot in the state of Missouri as a veto referendum. Voters will decide whether congressional districts that the Missouri General Assembly adopted in 2025 will or will not take effect.

In September 2025, Missouri lawmakers passed—and Missouri governor Mike Kehoe signed into law—an act changing the state's congressional districts. The new districts dismantled the strongly democratic leaning 5th congressional district.

However, before the map took effect, it faced a lawsuit and a veto referendum. The lawsuit argued the new map was unconstitutional, and violated the part of Missouri's Constitution stating that redistricting had to occur after a United States census. But the Missouri Supreme Court disagreed, ruling 4–3 that the state constitution requires redistricting to happen after a census, but does not otherwise explicitly prohibit it.

The veto referendum, in which voters decide whether to pass or reject a law, was initiated by a group named People Not Politicians Missouri after they gathered over 300,000 signatures. Although the number of signatures submitted was sufficient, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins refused to place the measure on the ballot, stating that it was an unconstitutional measure.

On September 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of Missouri ruled that the veto referendum was constitutional, and that it could be held on redistricting, ordering the Secretary of State to use the enacted map from 2022 in the November 2026 elections. Following the ruling, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court and filed a motion requesting the state Supreme Court to pause its ruling from taking effect while the appeal plays out. However, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied this request on September 8, keeping the 2022 map in effect for the 2026 election. However, the same day, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri issued a temporary restraining order in a separate lawsuit prohibiting the state from using anything but the new 2025 map. On September 10, the U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency stay of Judge Clark's order, putting the 2022 map back into place for the 2026 elections. On September 21, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, ruling on the merits, affirmed the temporary restraining order and remanded the case to the lower court for entry of a permanent injunction enjoining Missouri to use the 2025 map, but stayed their ruling for a week pending appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. On September 25, the U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency stay of the Eighth Circuit's order and Judge Clark's injunction, barring either court from issuing any new orders requiring the use of the 2025 map.

Background

Legislative discussion In July 2025, The Missouri Independent reported that the Trump administration had urged Republican Party leadership in the state of Missouri to redistrict the state's legislative boundaries to benefit Republicans. The plan elicited concern from some Missouri Republicans, such as House Speaker Pro Tempore Chad Perkins, who said it broke the precedent of redistricting after every census. Along with redistricting in Texas, the proposal began amid concern from Trump and his allies that a Republican loss in the 2026 United States House of Representatives elections could damage Trump's legislative agenda and lead to investigations.

By August 2025, momentum began building behind the scenes. Early that month, The Kansas City Star reported emails showing that Kehoe had gathered the state's top legislative leaders at the Missouri Capitol for a private meeting about redistricting on August 1, 2025. The Star also obtained emails showing that top staffers in Kehoe's office discussed the legality of redistricting with high-ranking officials in the Missouri Office of Administration. Additional records obtained by the Star showed that messages condemning the effort were flooding Kehoe's office, with an internal staff report listing opposition to redistricting as the No. 1 "hot topic" among residents who contacted the governor in late July.

Special session Multiple state legislators called on Mike Kehoe to call a special session immediately to redraw the congressional districts. On August 21, 2025, Donald Trump stated on Truth Social that Missouri was ready to redraw its congressional districts.

On September 9, the Missouri State House voted to advance the new map. The bill headed to State Senate where it also advanced on September 12. It was signed into law by Governor Kehoe on September 28.

Impact The proposed new map intends to give Republicans one additional seat in the 2026 United States House of Representatives elections. The map splits voters of Jackson County between three congressional districts and puts Democratic Party Representative Emanuel Cleaver's district once anchored in Jackson County stretching all the way east into Osage County, while the 4th and 6th districts gain part of Kansas City in their new configurations.

The new map uses Troost Avenue, a historic symbol of racial segregation in Kansas City, as the dividing line between the 4th and 5th congressional districts. The map also moved the 2nd district further into Southern Missouri, making the light red district redder. Trump won the previous version of the 2nd district by 8 points, but under the new map, he would have won it by 11 points.

Litigation

Constitutionality of new map On March 24, 2026, in Luther v. Hoskins, the Supreme Court of Missouri ruled in a 4–3 decision that the new congressional map did not violate the Missouri Constitution. Appellants had argued that Article III, Section 45, of the state constitution prohibits redistricting from occurring except for after a census. Article III, Section 45 states the following:Congressional apportionment.

When the number of representatives to which the state is entitled in the House of the Congress of the United States under the census of 1950 and each census thereafter is certified to the governor, the general assembly shall by law divide the state into districts corresponding with the number of representatives to which it is entitled, which districts shall be composed of contiguous territory as compact and as nearly equal in population as may be.The Missouri Supreme Court disagreed with the appellants, ruling that the provision only requires that redistricting occur after a census, and does not prohibit it occurring otherwise.

Endorsements

Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error Yes No UndecidedSaint Louis University/YouGovAugust 13–24, 2026900 (LV)± 4.09%35%32%33%

2026 Missouri Proposition A

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