On Nov. 3, Missourians will decide whether to use a new congressional district map that better favors the Republican Party or continue using the map currently in place.
If voters approve Proposition A, Missouri House Bill No. 1 will go into effect. HB1 was approved in a 2025 legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Mike Kehoe later that year. The bill details a new congressional map with boundaries that “keep more counties intact,” according to official ballot language.
The “Missouri First” map, as it’s called by Republicans, would divide Kansas City across multiple rural congressional districts. Critics of the map say it gives the GOP an advantage in seven of the state’s eight U.S. House of Representatives districts.
Proposition A, if approved, would repeal the congressional map approved by the Missouri legislature in 2022 that was drawn using 2020 U.S. Census data. The map was first used in the 2022 midterm elections and has been used in every election since, except for the recent August primary, where Secretary of State Denny Hoskins instructed county clerk’s offices to use the Missouri First map instead.
Democrat and Democrat-leaning organizations immediately disavowed the Missouri First map. A group called People Not Politicians campaigned to put Proposition A, a veto referendum, on the Nov. 3 ballot to repeal HB1. The campaign collected more than 305,000 signatures by December 2025, more than meeting the minimum requirement to place a measure on the ballot.
However, Hoskins waited to verify the signatures until Aug. 4, the day of the primary, and declared the referendum to be unconstitutional. The primary was held in the boundaries created by the Missouri First map, which greatly changed who some Jefferson County voters saw on their ballot.
The 2025 map had moved western Jefferson County, including Eureka, Hillsboro, De Soto and Cedar Hill, from District 3 to District 2. In that race, incumbent Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, and Fred Wellman, D-Wildwood, won their primary races and will be on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in the case on Sept. 3, forbidding Hoskins from using the Missouri First map in the November election, instead directing him to use the original 2022 map. The ruling also confirmed that Missouri voters will have a say in which map they would like to use in elections, with Proposition A approved to appear on the November ballot.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Sept. 8 rejected Missouri Republicans’ appeal to use the congressional map favoring the GOP, meaning western Jefferson County voters will be casting votes Nov. 3 in the District 3 race, which pits incumbent Rep. Bob Onder, R-St. Charles, against Bethany Mann, D-St. Peters, and Jim Higgins, L-St. Louis.
If Proposition A is voted down, the congressional map approved in 2022 will remain in place.
The official ballot language is: “Do the people of the state of Missouri approve the act of the General Assembly entitled ‘House Bill No. 1 (2025 Second Extraordinary Session),’ which repeals Missouri’s existing congressional plan, and replaces it with new congressional boundaries that keep more counties intact?”
In favor
The fight over Missouri’s congressional district map has caught the attention of national political leaders.
President Donald Trump showed his support for the Missouri First map in multiple social media posts, with the president saying HB1 “will hopefully give us an additional seat in Congress” and “will send an additional MAGA Republican to Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.”
Kehoe called for the special session to redistrict the state at the president’s behest, saying in a news release that the new map ensures Missouri values are prioritized in Washington, D.C.
“This is about clarity for voters and ownership of our future,” he said.
Opposed
Members of the Democratic Party came out opposed to the redrawn map, promising to invest in efforts to collect signatures for the referendum.
When the Missouri First map was approved by the legislature, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D) said, “Bowing to the demands of Donald Trump, corrupt Missouri Republicans advanced their mid-decade gerrymandering scheme today to try and rig the midterm elections in order to salvage the weak GOP House majority.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said Missouri Republicans were trying to “cheat” by approving the redrawn map, further calling the move a “unilateral power grab.”
“The DNC won’t stand idly by as Republicans try to take the power away from the people — that’s why we’re partnering with Democrats on the ground to ensure Missourians choose their maps, not Trump or his Republican enablers.”
