Jefferson City, Missouri (AP) – Signed by Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe New US House Map On Sunday he was caught up in the law as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to protect a narrow Republican majority in next year’s Congressional election.
Kehoe’s signature will put revised districts into state law with the aim of helping Republicans win additional seats. But that may not be the final action. Opponents are pursuing a referendum petition to force a statewide vote on the new map if successful. They also filed several lawsuits against it.
To explain population changes, U.S. residential areas were redrawn nationwide after the 2020 census. But Missouri is the third state this year that is attempting to redraw the district for partisan advantage. Gerrymandering.
Republican Party Texas lawmakers It was passed last month on the new US House Map, and aimed to help the party win five additional seats. Democrat California lawmakers He rebutted his own constituency change plan aimed at winning five more seats, but requires voter approval. Other states We are also considering re-zoning.
Each seat can be important as Democrats need to win just three seats to gain control of the house. Trump is trying to stop the historic trend of presidential parties losing seats in midterm elections.
Republicans currently own six of the eight US house seats in Missouri. The new map is targeting ships Democrat Emmanuel Cleaver By shaving a portion of his Kansas City area and stretching the rest of it into a heavy rural area by the Republicans. After serving as Kansas City’s first black mayor, he will reduce the number of black and minority residents in the Cleaver area he has represented for 20 years.
Cleaver condemned the plan to change districts True Store Avenue in Kansas City (as it has long quarantined black and white residents and is used as one of the new district’s divisions).
Kehoe defends the new map as a way to enhance Missouri’s “conservative, common sense value” in the country’s capital.
Opponents are gathering petition signatures attempting to enforce a statewide referendum on a new map. They will be required to submit approximately 110,000 valid signatures until December 11th.
Meanwhile, opponents are also pursuing a variety of legal challenges. The voter lawsuit argues that under Missouri’s constitution, mid-term constituency changes are not permitted. The NAACP lawsuit claims that there is no “extraordinary opportunity” Keho calls lawmakers to the session For re-zoning.
The American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit also argues that the new Kansas City Regional District is compact and includes an equal group in violation of the state’s constitutional requirements. Please note that the Rezoning Act lists “KC 811” voting districts in both the fourth and fifth council districts.
However, Kehoe’s office said there were no errors. He said other government agencies assigned the same name to two different voting locations.
