Kehoe says he’s ‘disappointed’ GOP-favored map in Missouri is blocked again

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R), who championed last year’s redistricting efforts in his state, shared his disappointment in a Supreme Court decision requiring Missouri to use its old congressional map in the November election.

“It is disappointing that today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court means Missouri will conduct its November general election under a different congressional map than its primary election,” he said in a statement on the social platform X.

“Voters deserved consistency and certainty, and not for the rules to be changed between elections,” he continued, adding that the state will comply with the ruling.

The Supreme Court Friday blocked an appeals court ruling that would have allowed Missouri to use a Republican-favored 7-1 House map adopted in 2025. The decision means the state will instead conduct the midterm election using its older 6-2 map.

The justices determined that making another change so close to Election Day, with ballots already being mailed, risked disrupting the election.

“At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion. There were no noted dissents.

The ruling is the latest development in a months-long legal fight over Missouri’s congressional district that has left the state using different maps for its primary and general elections.

Republicans passed the new map last year amid a broader mid-decade redistricting push from President Trump and national Republicans.

The map was drawn to give the GOP an opportunity to win seven of Missouri’s eight House seats, up from six under the 2022 boundaries.

The new lines targeted the Kansas City-area district represented by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D), making it more favorable to Republicans.

Missouri used the new map during its August primary. But the state’s Supreme Court later ruled that a referendum challenging the map would go before voters in November, preventing the new boundaries from taking effect for the general election unless voters approve them.

The dispute then spilled into federal court, where Republicans argued that switching maps between the primary and general election created constitutional problems.