Republican Governor Signs Into Law Trump-Backed Congressional Redistricting Map
President Donald Trump scored another major victory in the battle over congressional redistricting after Missouri’s Republican Governor Mike Kehoe signed into law a new congressional map that is expected to hand the GOP an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
The measure, dubbed the Missouri First Map, was signed Sunday following passage by the Republican-led legislature. Missouri, once considered a swing state but now firmly red, joins Texas as the latest battleground where Republicans are pressing their advantage, while Democrats pursue their own aggressive redistricting moves in states like California.
“I was proud to officially sign the Missouri First Map into law today ahead of the 2026 midterm election,” Kehoe said in a statement. “We believe this map best represents Missourians, and I appreciate the support and efforts of state legislators, our congressional delegation, and President Trump in getting this map to my desk.”
Trump quickly celebrated the move on social media, calling the new map “FANTASTIC” and predicting it “will help send an additional MAGA Republican to Congress in the 2026 Midterm Elections.”
The map zeroes in on longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-area seat, shifting it eastward to rope in more conservative, rural voters. If enacted as expected, the change would likely flip Cleaver’s seat red, giving Republicans a 7-1 advantage in Missouri’s House delegation.
Cleaver blasted the new map and vowed to take legal action to block it. “I want to warn all of us that if you fight fire with fire long enough, all you’re going to have left is ashes,” he told a Missouri Senate panel earlier this month. Citing polls, he also called the redistricting plan “immensely unpopular.”
Missouri House Minority Leader Ashley Aune echoed those concerns, accusing Republicans of trying to “rig our maps and eliminate our representation in Congress.”
Kehoe’s announcement came just hours after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed his state’s own GOP-drawn redistricting plan, which could create up to five new Republican-leaning congressional districts. Both states are part of a coordinated Republican strategy to expand their narrow House majority ahead of the 2026 elections — a midterm cycle that historically favors the party out of power.
Trump and his team have made clear they are determined to avoid a repeat of 2018, when Democrats took back the House during his first term.
Democrats are pushing back with their own efforts. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom is leading a ballot proposition this November to bypass the state’s independent redistricting commission and hand control of map-drawing back to the Democratic legislature. The plan could yield as many as five new Democratic-friendly seats, serving as a counterweight to GOP moves in Missouri and Texas. Newsom, widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, has made redistricting a high-profile political fight.
The stakes are enormous: Democrats need only a net gain of three seats next year to reclaim the House majority. Republicans in other states, including Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Kansas, and Nebraska, are weighing their own favorable redraws. Ohio, meanwhile, is under a court order to adopt new maps in time for the midterms.
Democrats are also looking for opportunities in their strongholds. In New York, Illinois, and Maryland, state leaders are preparing their own redistricting pushes that could create as many as three additional blue-leaning seats. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Maryland Governor Wes Moore are both in discussions to move forward with new maps.
And in Utah, Democrats could see an opening after a judge ordered Republicans to redraw maps that had ignored recommendations from an independent commission approved by voters four years ago.
With just over a year before the 2026 midterms, the redistricting war has become one of the most critical fronts in the fight for control of Congress.