Missouri Republicans drew a new congressional map that would have turned Troost Avenue, the street Kansas City has long treated as its racial dividing line, into the border of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s district. Courts have now put that map on hold for this election.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Sept. 3 that the new districts “did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters.” The map Missouri used in 2022 and 2024 stays in force for the Nov. 3 general election. The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Sept. 25 to revive the Republican map, leaving the state court’s decision standing.
Cleaver, a Democrat and the Black congressman who has held the seat since 2005, was blunt about the plan. The redrawn 5th District would have stretched more than 100 miles east into Republican-leaning rural counties, and about 59% of it would have been new territory. “I was hurt more than anything by the fact that Troost, for 10.5 miles was going to be the new border of the 5th district and that was not healthy for the community,” he said. After the Supreme Court’s decision he said, “I think my reelection prospects shot up significantly.”
The district is one of the most diverse in Missouri. Black residents make up about 21% of its population and Hispanic residents about 12%, according to Capital B’s reporting. Under the Republican plan, Kansas City’s Black voters would have been a smaller share of a district built to flip, in a push that President Donald Trump urged and that aimed to take Republicans from six of Missouri’s eight House seats to seven.
The map did not stall on its own. A campaign called People Not Politicians collected more than 300,000 signatures, submitted in December, to force a referendum on it. Missouri’s constitution gives voters that right, and the legislature and the secretary of state fought it. “We are entitled to the constitutional right to a referendum,” volunteer Jamie Johnson said.
Republican officials called the ruling an overreach. Gov. Mike Kehoe said: “We are extremely disappointed in today’s decision by unelected judges and their lack of respect for the legislative process.” Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said the rulings “ignite nothing short of a Constitutional crisis.”
The reprieve covers one election. Missourians will also vote Nov. 3 on Proposition A, which decides whether the Republican map takes effect for later elections. A yes vote approves it. A no vote sends the legislature back to the 2020 districts. Early voting began Oct. 20.
Kansas City voters who spoke to Capital B described a line they already know. “This street right here is pretty much the dividing line,” said Lavance Kennar, standing on Troost. Terri Craddock-Moore, who reads the local paper every weekend to keep up with the fight, put the stakes simply: “Your vote counts. Your voice counts.”
Polls in Missouri close at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3.
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