The self-inflicted chaos of Missouri’s congressional elections 

Missouri’s Republican-led legislature redrew its congressional districts in 2025, seeking an advantage in the 2026 House elections, particularly in the Kansas City seat held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. Opponents submitted a petition to put the map to a statewide vote, but Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected it on the day of the August primary. That primary went ahead under the new boundaries. In September, Missouri’s Supreme Court ruled that the petition was valid and that the new map had never taken effect. It ordered the November election to use the 2022 boundaries and placed the proposed map on the ballot as a referendum.

Federal litigation then raised the question of whether candidates could contest a general election under different boundaries from those used in their primaries. An appeals court ordered use of the new map, but the US Supreme Court stayed that order, leaving the 2022 map in place for November. The justices said Hoskins had known before the primary that using the 2025 map carried significant risks; they did not settle the underlying constitutional question. In a column for The Hill, Chris Truax argues that the unresolved question could prompt challenges to the results and leave some seats vacant. That is his prediction, not an outcome established by the courts.