Missouri asks US Supreme Court to allow use of new Trump-backed congressional districts in midterms

Missouri has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a new congressional map backed by President Donald Trump to be used in the November 2026 midterm elections. The map was designed to give Republicans a better chance of gaining an additional U.S. House seat and protecting their narrow House majority.

The Missouri Supreme Court blocked the new districts after opponents gathered more than 300,000 signatures seeking a statewide referendum on the map. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins had rejected the referendum effort, arguing that congressional redistricting could not be challenged through Missouri’s referendum process. The state’s highest court disagreed, ruling that the petition effectively suspended the new map until voters decide whether to approve it.

That creates an unusual situation because Missouri already used the new districts during its August primary. The state court ordered Missouri to return to the congressional districts adopted after the 2020 census for the November general election. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway argues that changing maps between the primary and general election could create serious administrative problems and has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately block the state court’s decision.

The dispute is part of a much broader national fight over mid-decade redistricting. Missouri currently sends six Republicans and two Democrats to the House, and the new map specifically reshapes a Kansas City-area district held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Trump’s push for Republican-friendly maps ahead of the midterms has helped trigger similar redistricting battles in more than a dozen Republican- and Democratic-led states. Justice Brett Kavanaugh has asked opponents of Missouri’s map to respond to the state’s appeal by Monday, with a Tuesday deadline looming for ballot changes.

The AP report was written by Lindsay Whitehurst and David A. Lieb.