Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R-Missouri) has filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court that blocks the state’s newly drawn 2025 congressional map.
The 2025 map has already been used in primaries leading to the midterm elections.
Now, the state supreme court’s ruling requires the general election to be decided with the older map, which was drawn in 2022.
Hanaway’s application to the U.S. Supreme Court is one of two legal efforts under way. Rep. Bob Onder (R-Missouri), Republican congressional candidate Rick Brattin and two Missouri voters have filed a separate lawsuit against the state, arguing that switching maps between the primary and general elections is unconstitutional.
The core of the Republican argument to the U.S. Supreme Court is one shouldn't be able to conduct a primary under one congressional map and then switch to another map for the general election.
The Missouri General Assembly, roughly a year ago, redrew the state’s voting districts. The new map has withstood litigation, including four previous trips to the state supreme court, Hanaway said on American Family Radio Tuesday.
That’s why the state court’s most recent decision is perplexing.
“The primary elections were held with those new maps passed by the legislature, signed by the governor. Then just last Thursday in a complete surprise, the Missouri Supreme Court said we're going to have a referendum on the maps. It's going to a vote of the people. And until such time as it does, we're reverting back to the old maps,” Hanaway told show host Jenna Ellis.
Missouri’s voting districts are a federal matter, not a state matter, making the U.S. Supreme Court the proper venue for the final say, Hanaway said.
Because the difference between the two maps “will make a difference in control of one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, we’ve gone to the Supreme Court,” Hanaway said. “It would be ridiculous at this point to tell all those primary voters, ‘Hey, sorry, but your votes really don’t count. We’re going to have a completely different general election for these members of Congress.’”
Using a different map for the midterms would effectively disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Missouri voters, state officials say.
Missouri’s federal 5th District is the centerpiece of the state’s redistricting effort. Under the 2022 map, the 5th was essentially a Kansas City-centered Democratic district. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) has represented it since 2005 and won his last two elections with more than 60% of the vote.
The new map splits Kansas City among three congressional districts — the 4th, 5th and 6th.
The changes take the 5th District “from being a very urban district to being a district that much better represents Missouri,” Hanaway said.
There are practical considerations as well. Changing the map would require reassigning hundreds of thousands of voters, redesigning and testing ballots then printing them. Election officials estimate the process would take at least 28 days, and the state has only 15 days to work with and remain in compliance with court-imposed election calendar guidelines.
The clock is ticking
Monday is the deadline to make any changes to the ballot, and ballots must be sent to military personnel by Sept. 19.
The state supreme court has previously judged the new map as “more compact” and the mid-decade redistricting process used by state officials as “perfectly constitutional,” Hanaway said. “That’s why this was such a surprise.”
It’s been rather surprising for political candidates too.
“Those candidates spent millions just to win their primaries, and now they have to speak to a whole different set of voters. The poor county clerks. I mean, the nightmare that this is creating for the one 114 clerks in Missouri … they had the new maps already up and going,” Hanaway said.
