{"id":5387,"date":"2025-09-25T16:31:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/let-the-courts-decide-kehoe-says-he-will-sign-gerrymandered-missouri-congressional-map-2\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:31:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:31:03","slug":"let-the-courts-decide-kehoe-says-he-will-sign-gerrymandered-missouri-congressional-map-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/let-the-courts-decide-kehoe-says-he-will-sign-gerrymandered-missouri-congressional-map-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Let the courts decide\u2019: Kehoe says he will sign gerrymandered Missouri congressional map"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gov. Mike Kehoe, center, speaks to reporters Thursday during a visit to Columbia Regional Airport. (Rudi Keller\/Missouri Independent)<\/p>\n

The courts will determine if the <\/span>bill<\/span><\/a> revising Missouri\u2019s congressional districts is constitutional, Gov. Mike Kehoe said Thursday after announcing his plans to sign the measure this weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters after an event in Columbia, Kehoe said he felt confident he was on firm legal ground when he called lawmakers into a special session.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll let the courts decide that,\u201d Kehoe said. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have went into this without feeling like we had good advice on that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Over 10 days this month, lawmakers met and <\/span>passed a revised map<\/span><\/a> for Missouri\u2019s eight congressional districts so Republicans could have an advantage in the 5th District, currently held by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMissouri\u2019s conservative, common-sense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that,\u201d Kehoe said in a news release announcing he would sign the bill on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even before the special session began, legal challenges were being filed. The NAACP has a case argued Sept. 15 <\/span>challenging Kehoe\u2019s authority<\/span><\/a> to have called a special session on redistricting. Additional court challenges are underway in <\/span>Cole<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Jackson<\/span><\/a> counties seeking to have the new map declared void because the Missouri Constitution directs lawmakers to draw districts <\/span>after the census<\/span><\/a> every 10 years, but is silent on whether it can be done at other times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kehoe said he relied on his advisers on the legality of his decision to call a special session.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe they\u2019re very good on these issues, and we think we\u2019ll withstand all those challenges,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The case in Jackson County alleges the map is incorrect because a <\/span>voting district designation<\/span><\/a> is used twice in the bill. The court must decide if that is a mistake that scuttles the bill but Kehoe on Thursday said he believes it is a mistake in census mapping, not in the bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you look at the map, if you just read the language, it doesn\u2019t seem to make sense,\u201d Kehoe said. \u201cBut if you read the language and you look at the map, you can see somewhere along the line there was some sort of error when they put those numbers on out of the 60,000 voting districts across the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As the case that is the most advanced in challenging the new map, the NAACP lawsuit is likely the first that will be decided. At an \u201cemergency meeting\u201d Wednesday, Missouri NAACP president Nimrod Chapel said the group will not waver in their effort to throw out Missouri\u2019s new congressional map.<\/span><\/p>\n

If successful, the lawsuit will not only get the new map tossed but also remove a proposed constitutional amendment from the ballot that would change the way majorities are counted for constitutional changes proposed by initiative petitions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognized instantly that gerrymandering in the state of Missouri targeted two Black congressional districts, Kansas City and St. Louis,\u201d Chapel said. \u201cNot only is this an attack on the most populated urban centers within the state of Missouri, but it\u2019s also an attack on Black and brown voices whose needs are distinct, in some ways, from rural Missouri.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the special session ended on Sept. 12, the NAACP has filed an amended petition asking for the map to be scrapped. The state\u2019s attorney, Solicitor General Louis Capozzi, has said the lawsuit should be dismissed because lawmakers have already adjourned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapel also said he believes that the use of the same voting district designation twice in the bill is a mistake that will undermine the new map.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a map that\u2019s been proposed and is sitting on the governor\u2019s desk that cannot be signed,\u201d Chapel said, \u201cand the reason that it cannot be signed is because it has precincts that will get to vote on multiple occasions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapel said the NAACP is prepared to appeal the case to the Missouri Supreme Court if the judge sides with the governor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re suing them,\u201d he said, \u201cand we will keep suing them until they get it right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/i>\n

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n