Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied Missouri’s emergency request to revive its newly drawn congressional districts for the 2026 midterms, leaving the state’s 2022 map in place while voters decide the new plan’s future in November.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Missouri will conduct November’s congressional elections under its 2022 district boundaries after the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an emergency attempt by state officials to reinstate a newly drawn map designed to improve Republican prospects of winning an additional House seat.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ emergency application without comment, according to the Supreme Court docket. The application had been submitted to Kavanaugh on Sept. 4 following a ruling by Missouri’s highest court blocking the new districts from being used in the 2026 midterm elections.
The decision leaves intact last week’s Missouri Supreme Court ruling that the new congressional plan never legally took effect because opponents submitted a valid and timely referendum petition challenging it. The state court ordered officials to place the map before voters in November and continue using congressional districts enacted in 2022 for this year’s general election.
If Missouri voters approve the new plan in November, it could take effect for subsequent congressional elections, beginning in 2028. If they reject it, the current districts would remain in force unless replaced through another lawful redistricting process.
The dispute stems from a mid-decade redistricting effort approved last year by Missouri’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives and legislature.
The proposal, called the “Missouri First” map, was designed to alter the state’s existing 6-2 Republican advantage in its U.S. House delegation by making the Kansas City-based 5th Congressional District substantially more favorable to Republicans.
Lawmakers approved the new map in the House by a 90-65 vote. The plan divided portions of Kansas City among neighboring Republican-held districts and extended the remainder of the 5th District into more Republican-leaning rural areas, according to the Associated Press.
The configuration could have positioned Republicans to win seven of Missouri’s eight congressional seats rather than the six they currently hold.
The new boundaries were already used during Missouri’s August congressional primaries. But opponents of the map gathered more than 300,000 signatures seeking a statewide referendum, creating a legal dispute over whether the legislature’s redistricting legislation could take effect before voters considered it.
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins initially rejected the referendum effort, and a lower court agreed with the state that congressional redistricting was not subject to the referendum process.
The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously reversed that decision last Thursday, throwing out the new map for purposes of the November election.
“The congressional districts the General Assembly established in 2022 remain in full force and effect for the November 2026 general election,” the court concluded, ruling that the challenged legislation “will not take effect unless and until approved by the voters” in November.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway immediately sought emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that reverting to the previous boundaries after candidates had already competed in primaries under the newer map would create unprecedented disruption.
“Never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election. This unprecedented decision clearly violates federal law and has thrust our state into a full-fledged constitutional crisis,” Hanaway said.
“Our office will move immediately to seek relief from SCOTUS. We are confident that the federal courts will not allow every Missouri voter to be disenfranchised—which is what today’s decision does,” she said.
Missouri argued before the Supreme Court that changing districts between the primary and general elections could confuse voters and interfere with federal election requirements. Opponents maintained that the state Constitution preserved voters’ referendum rights and that the legislature’s map was legally suspended once the qualifying petition was filed.
Kavanaugh’s denial Tuesday did not address the merits of those arguments or provide an explanation for rejecting Missouri’s emergency request.
The immediate result is that congressional candidates who competed in August primaries under the newer boundaries will face voters in November under the districts established following the 2020 census.
Missouri voters will simultaneously decide whether the Republican-backed replacement map should ultimately become law, separating the question of which districts govern the 2026 election from whether the new boundaries can be used in future election cycles.
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