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Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe announced on May 27 that he will call a special legislative session to consider disaster relief, stadium funding and spending items (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe still hasn\u2019t confirmed whether he\u2019ll call a special session to change the state\u2019s congressional map, but Republican lawmakers who\u2019ve spoken to the governor say it\u2019s very possible.<\/p>\n
State lawmakers and officials gathered in Sedalia on Thursday morning for the annual Governor\u2019s Ham Breakfast. Planned remarks from the podium focused on celebrating the Missouri State Fair and local agriculture. But, as it has in previous years, politics dominated breakfast-table conversations.<\/p>\n
The issue at hand was the effort being pushed by President Donald Trump to change the congressional map of Missouri to increase the Republican delegation by one seat, therefore decreasing the number of Democratic-held seats to just one.<\/p>\n
Similar efforts in Texas are underway, sparking counter-efforts by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in California.<\/p>\n
Kehoe has stopped short of confirming that he\u2019ll call the legislature into a special session to redraw Missouri\u2019s congressional map.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to make sure on any time you call a special session, or even a regular piece of legislation during the normal process, you want to make sure that what you\u2019re doing is in the right direction and that you have as many people on board as possible,\u201d Kehoe told reporters at the breakfast. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not saying we are at that point or not at that point, but it\u2019s a process.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Republicans who have spoken to Kehoe about the issue say they think he will call lawmakers back to Jefferson City.<\/p>\n
The Kansas City Star reported that Kehoe discussed redistricting with multiple top Republicans in an early August meeting. House Majority Leader Alex Riley, a Springfield Republican, was in that meeting and said he thinks it\u2019s \u201cpretty likely\u201d Kehoe will call a special session.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m supportive of it,\u201d he said. \u201cRight now, Missouri is a solidly Republican state. When you look around the rest of the country, you\u2019ve seen Democrat states, for very long periods of time, draw their lines in such a way that they have no Republican representation or very minimal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson, a Lee\u2019s Summit Republican, was also in the meeting but declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The recent push to redistrict was ignited by U.S. Rep. Bob Onder from Missouri. He told Punchbowl News that the White House wants Missouri to redraw the map and send more Republicans to the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
As a state senator, Onder was supportive of a 2022 effort to draw Missouri\u2019s congressional map in such a way to give Republicans seven seats, instead of the six they currently control.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t successful in that effort in 2022, but it looks like we will very likely be doing that shortly,\u201d Onder said, before adding that he\u2019d spoken to Kehoe about the issue recently and thinks he will be calling a special session.<\/p>\n
Onder represents the 3rd Congressional District, which nearly entirely encircles the state\u2019s 1st and 2nd Districts.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gov. David Wasinger, who also supports redistricting, criticized the shape of the current congressional map and blamed state lawmakers for not creating one more favorable to Republicans in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the map that\u2019s currently drawn in Congressman Bob Onder\u2019s district \u2026 it looks like a Pac-Man \u2014 you know, the old video game Pac-Man,\u201d he said. \u201cIt looks like a Pac-Man with its mouth open.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he has not confirmed whether he\u2019d call a special session, Kehoe said he shares Trump\u2019s vision for a Republican-led House of Representatives following the midterms.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy personal preference is just keep Speaker (Mike) Johnson in control in D.C.,\u201d he said. \u201cHis values align much better with Missourians than Congressman (Hakeem) Jeffries does, and I think that would be the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n