Julia Williams
Julia Williams
Editor-in-Chief
On Friday, Aug. 29, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe called the Missouri State House of Representatives and State Senate back to the State Capitol in Jefferson City for an Extraordinary Session to redraw Missouri Congressional District lines.
Currently on recess, the State Legislature is not scheduled to return to office until January 2026. However, due to a request ordered from the United States federal government, the Missouri State Legislature — along with Historic Northeast, District 19 House Representative Wick Thomas — found themselves back in the heart of Missouri, four months early.
The process of state congressional redistricting occurs once every 10 years and is determined based on most recently gathered census data. Following the U.S. census collected in 2020, the redistricting process, which occurred in 2022, detailed that Missouri should consist of eight congressional districts, with legal voters of each district to elect one member of the U.S. Congress, according to the Missouri Revisor of Statutes.
Historically, this has included a majority of Kansas City — and the Historic Northeast — within the Fifth Congressional District with Emanuel Cleaver II as the current Fifth District U.S. Representative.
However, on Aug. 29, Gov. Kehoe summoned the Missouri State Legislature to redraw the state district lines — a process which was not scheduled to occur until the 2030 census.
“The House District is being cut into three residential parts of the third, fourth and fifth congressional districts,” Executive Director for the Jackson County Democrats, Tyler McCall shared in an interview. “It dilutes the voices of neighborhoods and communities of those who should be voting together.”
The new district lines, which District 19 Missouri House Representative Wick Thomas shared were determined based on 2020 census data, focuses on splitting Kansas City into three different congressional districts.
“We just redistricted; the legislature redistricts every 10 years after the most recent census,” Rep. Thomas said in an interview, Sunday. “If this goes through, using six-year-old data, it’s not accurate on its face.”
And these new boundaries, Rep. Thomas discusses, would leave a significant impact not only on the City as a whole, but also for Historic Northeast residents.
“The Scarritt [Renaissance] congressional district border goes all the way to Illinois, Downtown in the southern district will go all the way to nearly Joplin [Missouri],” they said.
This Fifth District flip would not only impact Historic Northeast neighborhoods — with Lykins and Sheffield districts extending all the way past Jefferson City — but it would also leave drastic results for Rep. Cleaver, who would be required to share his current seat with additional congress members.
However, Rep. Thomas emphasized how this redistricting could not only leave impacts on Kansas City and its residents but also for those living in rural parts of Missouri, whose legislation could now be influenced by Kansas City voters.
The extraordinary session concluded on Friday, Sept. 12, with redistricting plans passing in both the Missouri State House and Senate. While plans will ultimately land on Gov. Kehoe’s desk, Rep. Thomas shared that several organizations have filed lawsuits from this proposal, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Of these lawsuits, one organization argues that these new boundary lines will place some cities in more than one congressional district — a violation of the Missouri Constitution.
Currently, Rep. Thomas shared that the legislature is not able to determine which congressional district each individual residence will be placed in as they have not received block by block data at this time. They additionally mentioned that this redistricting process will have to make its way through the courts after it will be approved by Gov. Kehoe. However, a decision will be determined by the next congressional election in November 2026.
“I think the main advice is to pay attention and to vote; what they’re doing is unprecedented, attempting to take away voice and the ability to participate in government,” Rep. Thomas said. “I would love to see voter participation rise significantly; it really does make an impact.”
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