WASHINGTON (AP) — Missouri appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 5, 2026, to allow the use of new congressional districts backed by President Donald Trump in the upcoming midterm election. The appeal follows a decision by Missouri’s highest court that blocked the new map and mandated a statewide vote in November on whether to retain or reject it. This situation is part of a national redistricting effort initiated by Trump last year. The new congressional boundaries in Missouri were designed to assist Republicans in gaining an additional seat and maintaining their slim House majority in the midterm elections.
The Missouri Supreme Court intervened after opponents of the redistricting submitted over 300,000 petition signatures to put the map to a public vote. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins dismissed the petition on primary Election Day, claiming that Missouri’s constitution does not permit referendum petitions concerning congressional redistricting. He successfully defended this decision in a lower court, but lost in front of the state’s highest court on Thursday.
The court ruled that the referendum petition effectively suspended the new districts retroactively from last December, pending voter approval. Although the new districts were utilized in the August primary, Missouri’s top court stated that the previous districts enacted after the 2020 census must be employed in the general election. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway noted that no other court has mandated congressional maps to be changed after a primary but before a general election.
In the appeal, her office stated, "No court in American history has ever given such an extraordinary remedy, which inflicts unprecedented chaos on Missouri." She requested the Supreme Court to immediately halt the state court’s decision. State law requires changes to the November ballot to be made by Tuesday. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles appeals from the region, has requested that critics of the new map respond to the appeal by Monday.
Supporters of the referendum argue that a statewide vote would allow residents to have a say in the process. Currently, Missouri has six Republicans and two Democrats in the U.S. House. The new maps have altered a Kansas City-based district previously held by longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Congressional districts are typically redrawn at the beginning of each decade based on new census data, but Trump’s push for a midterm election advantage has led to an unusual mid-decade redistricting conflict affecting more than a dozen states, driven by both Democrats and Republicans.