JUST IN: Red State Passes New Congressional Map, Draws In Likely GOP Pickup

The Missouri House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to approve a new congressional map that will effectively draw out one Democrat-controlled U.S. House seat. With the maps passed in the House and expected to soon clear the state’s Senate, the Show Me State is set to become the second Republican-controlled state to approve new maps as Republicans seek to retain control of the House next November.

The 90-65 vote puts Missouri one step closer to enacting new maps that would give Republicans control of seven of eight available U.S. House seats in the state. A vote in the Senate is expected later this week.

After lawmakers voted to establish a commission to explore the possibility of redistricting, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe announced ordered a special legislative session to redraw maps for the GOP-dominated state’s congressional districts.

“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 statement. The governor also unveiled what he called the Missouri First Map, describing it as “a more compact, contiguous proposed map that was drawn and created by his team in Missouri to be considered by the General Assembly.”

The proposed map, the governor explained, splits fewer counties and municipalities when compared with the current boundaries. It will also preserve two districts as currently drawn and leaves each respective U.S. Representative in their current districts.

“Missourians are more alike than we are different, and our Missouri values, across both sides of the aisle, are closer to each other than those of the extreme Left representation of New York, California and Illinois,” Kehoe said. “Missouri’s conservative, common-sense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that.”

The new map will likely lead to the loss of the state’s Fifth Congressional District for the Democratic Party, a Kansas City-area district that is currently held by Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

President Donald Trump — who has called on Republican-controlled states to redistrict in order to counter a “census error” that awarded Democrats more than 10 seats they should not currently hold — praised the decision in a Truth Social post.

“The Great State of Missouri is now IN. I’m not surprised. It is a great State with fabulous people,” the president wrote. “I won it, all 3 times, in a landslide. We’re going to win the Midterms in Missouri again, bigger and better than ever before!”

Kehoe’s announcement came just hours after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed new congressional maps into law that will draw out five districts currently held by Democrats. Three of the districts have shifted to “safe Republican,” one to “likely Republican” and one “lean Republican,” under the new maps, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index.

In addition to Texas and Missouri, Republicans in Ohio will soon vote on new maps that could draw out upwards of three Democrat-controlled seats. Ohio is required to redistricting every 10 years, while Texas and Missouri have moved forward with mid-decade redistricting in response to the “census error.”

Florida, Indiana and South Carolina are among the other Republican-controlled states that are in the early process of mid-decade redistricting,