Opponents of Missouri’s new congressional map submitted thousands of petition signatures on Tuesday calling for a statewide referendum on a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump as part of his quest to hold on to a slim Republican majority in next year’s elections.
Organizers of the petition drive said they turned in more than 300,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office — well more than the roughly 110,000 needed to suspend the new US House districts from taking effect until a public vote can be held next year.
The signatures must still be formally verified by local election authorities and Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who has argued the referendum is unconstitutional. But if the signatures hold up, the referendum could create a significant obstacle for Republicans who hope the new districts could help them win a currently Democratic-held seat in the Kansas City area in the November election.
State law automatically sets referendum votes for the November election, unless the General Assembly approves an earlier date during its regular session that begins in January.
Redistricting typically happens once a decade, after each census. But the national political parties are engaged in an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle after Trump urged Republican-led states to reshape House voting districts to their advantage. The Republican president is trying to avert a historical tendency for the incumbent’s party to lose seats in midterm elections.
Each House seat could be crucial, because Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win control of the chamber and impede Trump’s agenda.
The group sponsoring Missouri’s referendum campaign, People Not Politicians, has raised about $5 million, coming mostly from out-of-state organizations opposed to the new map. National Republican-aligned groups have countered with more than $2 million for a committee supporting the new map.
Republicans have tried to thwart the referendum in numerous ways.
Organizations supporting the Republican redistricting have attempted to pay people up to $30,000 to quit gathering petition signatures, according to a lawsuit filed by Advanced Micro Targeting Inc., a company hired by People Not Politicians.
Hoskins, the secretary of state, contends he cannot legally count about 100,000 petition signatures gathered in the one-month span between legislative passage of the redistricting bill and his approval of the referendum petition’s format, but can only count those gathered after that.
Hoskins also wrote a ballot summary stating the new map “repeals Missouri’s existing gerrymandered congressional plan … and better reflects statewide voting patterns.” That’s the opposite of what referendum backers contends it does, and People Not Politicians is challenging that wording in court.
Meanwhile, the state’s Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Hoskins and the General Assembly asserting that congressional redistricting legislation cannot be subject to a referendum. Although a federal judge dismissed that suit Monday, the judge noted that Hoskins has “the power to declare the petition unconstitutional himself,” which would likely trigger a new court case.
Missouri’s restricting effort already has sparked an intense court battle. Lawsuits by opponents challenge the legality of Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s special session proclamation, assert that mid-decade redistricting isn’t allowed under Missouri’s constitution and claim the new districts run afoul of requirements to be compact, contiguous and equally populated.
It’s been more than a century since Missouri last held a referendum on a congressional redistricting plan. In 1922, the US House districts approved by the Republican-led legislature were defeated by nearly 62% of the statewide vote.
