The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state’s redrawn congressional map cannot be used in this year’s midterm elections, dealing a blow to Republicans.
The court ruled that a referendum on whether the state can use the map going forward must be included on the November ballot, meaning Missouri’s fall elections will take place under its previous district lines.
The new map was designed to draw one of the two Missouri Democrats in Congress, longtime Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, out of his seat.
“More than 305,000 Missourians demanded a say in who will represent them in the halls of Congress. Despite the cynical and deeply shameful attempt to silence many of our neighbors, the people fought back and won,” Cleaver said in a post on X following the ruling, adding that “democracy prevails.”
The ruling comes after a protracted battle between advocacy group People Not Politicians Missouri, which sought to block the Republican redistricting effort, and the state GOP leaders who defended it.
Missouri redrew its congressional map in 2025 at the behest of President Donald Trump. In response, People Not Politicians Missouri gathered more than 300,000 signatures to force a veto referendum. And while the group exceeded the signature requirements for getting on the ballot, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins refused to certify it, saying that it was unconstitutional. The group appealed to the state Supreme Court, which heard arguments on the matter on Wednesday.
The ruling comes just days before the state’s Sept. 8 deadline to finalize its ballot for the general election. The state ran its August primary election using the Republican-drawn map.
Judge Ginger K. Gooch wrote in her ruling that Hoskins and those acting with him “are restrained and enjoined from implementing, using, or mandating the use of the congressional redistricting in HB 1 for the November 2026 general election or at any other time thereafter unless and until HB 1 is approved by the voters at the November 2026 general election and takes effect 30 days thereafter.”
The court’s decision means Cleaver will now be seeking re-election for his old seat, which skews heavily Democratic. He won by almost 24 percentage points in 2024.
The redesigned 5th District, which was struck down by Thursday’s ruling, was drawn so that Trump would have won by more than 17 points in 2024.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway vowed in a statement following the ruling to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election. This unprecedented decision clearly violates federal law and has thrust our state into a full‑fledged constitutional crisis,” Hanaway wrote. “We are confident that the federal courts will not allow every Missouri voter to be disenfranchised—which is what today’s decision does.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also weighed in, celebrating the decision and referencing the U.S. Supreme Court’s May decision to uphold a Virginia Supreme Court decision that did away with a voter-approved congressional map that would have expanded Democratic-leaning districts.
“We are watching closely to determine if they apply the same standard here, or choose to do the bidding of the Republican Party again,” Jeffries wrote.
People Not Politicians executive director Richard von Glahn celebrated the ruling.
“This victory reaches beyond Missouri. In a year when map-drawing has become a national weapon, courts across the country are watching what happens here. A Missouri win for the referendum is a signal that the people still hold the power,” von Glahn said in a statement.
Missouri is one of a handful of Republican-led states that took up mid-decade redistricting efforts at Trump’s urging to shore up the party’s narrow House majority.
Trump criticized the ruling in a Truth Social post, calling the ruling “horrible, ridiculous, and unConstitutional.”
“The Election Process, as usual, is being disturbed in America! Missouri must be able to use the map that was in effect just a couple of months ago, in the Primary,” Trump wrote.
The Republican National Committee also blasted the ruling in a statement.
“The RNC is evaluating every option to challenge this decision, and we will not stop fighting for Missouri voters,” said Ally Triolo, the RNC’s Election Integrity Communications Director.
The last time one of the state’s maps was considered by a voter referendum was in 1922, after the Republican-led state Legislature redrew the districts. Voters at the time rejected the new map.
