Kehoe calls special session on redistricting after White House lobbying
Alison Patton
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Gov. Mike Kehoe said Friday that he will call a special session on redistricting and initiative petition reform.
“Today, I am calling on the General Assembly to take action on congressional redistricting and initiative petition reform to ensure our districts and Constitution truly put Missouri values first,” Kehoe said in a news release. “This is about clarity for voters and ownership of our future, and I hope the legislature will work together to pass our Missouri First Map and critically needed IP reform.”
Democrats had anticipated Friday’s action and had a response ready.
“Trump puppet Mike Kehoe’s calling of a special session to steal a congressional seat for Republicans and gut Missourians’ constitutional right to enact laws through the initiative process marks the worst threat to the integrity of our state government since pro-slavery lawmakers voted for Missouri to join the Confederacy in 1861,” House Minority Leader Ashley Aune (D-Kansas City), said in a news release. “Missourians will not tolerate acts of electoral sabotage from their leaders nor silently allow Republicans to seize more power.”
The special session would start next week, one week before the annual veto session, which set for Sept. 10.
Kehoe’s news release on Friday called the map his office will present the “Missouri First” map. The map would still split Boone County, like the current map. But the new one would also split Jackson County — home to Kansas City.
Splitting Jackson County would fundamentally alter the Fifth Congressional District, one of two represented by Democrats in Missouri. Emanuel Cleaver, who holds that seat now, said in a statement that “truth is under assault.”
“President Trump’s unprecedented directive to redraw our maps in the middle of the decade and without an updated census is not an act of democracy – it is an unconstitutional attack against it,” Cleaver said. “This attempt to gerrymander Missouri will not simply change district lines, it will silence voices. It will deny representation. It will tell the people of Missouri that their lawmakers no longer wish to earn their vote, that elections are predetermined by the power brokers in Washington, and that politicians – not the people – will decide the outcome.”
Missouri is caught in a national push to get more Republican seats in the House of Representatives to boost their narrow majority. Missouri Republicans want to split up the Kansas City congressional district, a mostly blue district, which would give the GOP another seat.
President Donald Trump praised Missouri Republicans on Truth Social for talking about redistricting, according to a previous ABC 17 News report.
A screen capture of the map Gov. Mike Kehoe’s administration wants legislators to vote on.
The special session will also take up initiative petition reform, which would set stricter standards for statewide ballot issues — a Republican priority that has failed to make it through the last couple of regular legislative sessions.
Kehoe was at the announcement of a new partnership between Acculevel and three Missouri communities throughout the state on Friday morning in Jefferson City.
Acculevel repairs basements and foundations. The company has locations in Kennett, Sarcoxie and Smithville, Missouri.
The company is investing about $2.9 million at each location and adding about 41 jobs to each location, according to Michelle Hataway, Missouri Department for Economic Development director.
The governor also said he hasn’t received a direct request for the Missouri National Guard to aid police in Washington, D.C.
“We are working with Homeland Security on some processing issues with the National Guard,” Kehoe said, but didn’t elaborate.
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