Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe of Missouri, applauds while delivering the State of the State address Jan. 28, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
Trump, in a social media statement following passage in the GOP-dominated state legislature, called the new map "FANTASTIC" and said it "will help send an additional MAGA Republican to Congress in the 2026 Midterm Elections."
The new map targets longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-area district by shifting it eastward to include rural right-leaning voters. The new map would likely flip Cleaver's seat and give Republicans a 7-1 advantage in the state's House delegation.
Cleaver has vowed to take legal action if the new map is signed into law by the governor.
"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," Cleaver said earlier this month as he testified in front of a Missouri Senate committee.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, seen being interviewed by Fox News Digital, recently signed into law a bill that redraws the Lone Star State's congressional districts. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News )
The efforts in Missouri and Texas are part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.
Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.
Democrats are fighting back against the rare, but not unheard-of mid-decade redistricting.
State lawmakers in heavily blue California have approved a special ballot proposition this November to obtain voter approval to temporarily sidetrack the state's nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaks during a congressional redistricting event Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP)
The effort in California, which aims to create five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts and counter the shift in Texas, is being spearheaded by two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender.
With Democrats currently needing just a three-seat pickup in next year's midterms to win back the House majority, Republicans in Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Kansas and Nebraska are mulling their own GOP-friendly redistricting plans ahead of the 2026 elections. And right-leaning Ohio is under a court order to draw new maps ahead of the midterms.
Democrats, as they push back, are looking to New York, Illinois and Maryland in the hopes of creating more left-leaning congressional seats.
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In Illinois and Maryland, where governors J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore are discussing redistricting, Democrats hope to pick up to three more left-leaning seats.
And Democrats could pick up a seat in Republican-dominated Utah, where a judge recently ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to draw new maps after ruling that lawmakers four years ago ignored an independent commission approved by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republican-governor-signs-law-trump-backed-congressional-redistricting-map