The redistricting fight in Missouri leading up to the midterms just took a wild turn!
With just a few short months before in-person midterm voting kicks off in the state, the Trump-backed redrawn Congressional map just got a giant thumbs up.
In case you forgot, that would hand the current Missouri Republican majority of 6:2 (6 Republicans and 2 Democrats) another House seat.
That resulting flip would therefore put a total of 7 Missouri House seats in the hands of Republicans.
In a nutshell, the 8th Circuit Appeals Court essentially fell in line with what VP JD Vance said should happen a few days ago when he was asked about the situation in Missouri.
Check out this clip from C-SPAN just a week ago:
Reporter: “What message would you send to the Missouri Supreme Court about redistricting here in the state of Missouri [after the Trump-backed map was STRUCK DOWN]?”
Vice President JD Vance: “What I find most BIZARRE about the Missouri redistricting debate is that you already…
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— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress)
September 14, 2026
Talk about an “affront to the democratic process”.
Can you imagine a scenario in which huge numbers of voters operated under a pretense of free and fair elections…
Only to have their good-faith choices changed and pulled out from under them RIGHT BEFORE the general election?
If you’re remembering Biden’s dethroning and Kamala’s elitist ordination — completely disregarding millions of American votes —
you’re my people.
That is exactly the sort of scenario JD Vance argued SHOULD NOT happen again, with Missouri’s map drama.
And that’s basically the same argument taken by the 8th Circuit in today’s ruling, according to
KMBC – the local ABC News affiliate out of Kansas City:
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday said Missouri must use its 2025 congressional map in this November’s election.
The ruling comes as a result of a federal lawsuit filed by State Sen. Rick Brattin and Rep. Bob Onder.
The court heard arguments from both sides last Thursday.
“The Constitution does not permit Missouri to use a different congressional district map in the November 2026 general election than it used in the August 2026 primary election,” the court said in its ruling.
The court heard arguments from both sides last Thursday.
People Not Politicians is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It will be the third time that the issue has hit the U.S. Supreme Court in some form.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay to block Clark’s order, putting the 2022 map in place. (Emphasis added.)
The 8th Circuit ruling is clear on the constitutionality of which map should now be used for the midterms.
The question, then, becomes the Supreme Court.
And the 8th Circuit ‘paused’ today’s decision (
which you can read in it’s entirety, all 40 pages, HERE) specifically to give time for possible appeals, with the current SCOTUS stance on the issue in mind:
BREAKING: The Eighth Circuit ruled that Missouri must use its 2025 congressional map in November, holding that switching to the 2022 map after the August primary violates the Constitution. The court ordered entry of a permanent injunction, but paused it for one week.
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— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire)
September 21, 2026
Here’s the outtake from today’s ruling that really matters,
found on page 3 of the court’s decision:
On November 3, 2026, Missourians will vote for federal and state candidates in this year’s general election. Spirited congressional and ballot measure campaigns have intersected in federal and state courts. The question presented to this Court is which congressional district map Missouri should use for the November 2026 elections: the map adopted in 2025 and used in the August 2026 primary election, or the map adopted in 2022. The people of Missouri deserve an answer to this important question.
This Court holds that Missouri’s current plan to use the 2022 map in the November 2026 general election violates the Constitution. Only use of the 2025 map complies with the Constitution and federal law. We affirm the district court1 and remand for entry of a permanent injunction.
This is a great synopsis of everything we’ve covered so far for those who prefer a video format.
This comes from
KMBC, the ABC News affiliate I quoted earlier:
And that leads us to the question of how the constitutionality of the 8th Circuit’s decision will be met by the current posture of the Supreme Court.
It’s not very often that I’ll chose to quote from Politico — but ironically, IYKYK — today’s that day! (
This is not me throwing a bone to Politico or making excuses for them… they just happen to have a great writeup on this issue. Surprise, surprise!)
Check out what is likely to happen next following today’s ruling, according to
this explanation of the current situation created by today’s ruling, from Politico:
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Monday that the state must use the GOP-favored map in the midterms, despite a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that seemed to nudge federal courts to steer clear of the matter.
That map is expected to net Republicans one additional seat in the House by erasing Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district.
The pro-GOP map was used for the state’s primary elections last month. But it was later invalidated by Missouri’s highest court, which ruled 7-0 that the map never legally took effect in an opinion sharply critical of the state’s Republican secretary of state. That decision prompted a federal court battle that led to Monday’s ruling.
“Using the 2025 map … will lead to the least amount of confusion for voters subjected to a string of changes this month,” the panel majority wrote. “For approximately one year, Missouri operated under the 2025 map. During that time, Missourians filed to run for Congress, met candidates, watched campaign advertisements, received campaign mail, and voted under the 2025 map. Any confusion stems from the last-minute decision by a state court to switch the congressional map.”
The 8th Circuit’s call for use of the new map won’t take immediate effect. The panel gave redistricting opponents one week to get relief from the Supreme Court, but said that if no such action is forthcoming, state and local officials must move forward with the election under the new map.
Though most legal observers concluded that the Supreme Court’s earlier rulings were the death knell for the GOP-friendly map, the 8th Circuit judges said last week — during hastily convened oral arguments — they interpreted it as a call to action by the justices. (Emphasis added.)
So even though BOTH the Missouri Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court have recently as early September ruled AGAINST the use of the GOP-favored ‘new’ Congressional district map for the midterms…
The manner in which the higher state and US ‘Supreme’ justices handled it means that this decision by the 8th Circuit Court carries a lot of weight.
The ‘stays’ issued by the SCOTUS were, after all, what allowed the newly drawn map to be used in the way it was to begin with during the primaries — which then gave the current constitutional argument (echoing JD Vance’s take) from the 8th Circuit court it’s current wings.
That said, it’s a wide and WILD world we’ve entered with plenty of uncharted waters ahead, and plenty of justices likely chomping at the bit to get involved.
But as it stands simply now, Missouri election officials have essentially been ordered to move ahead towards the midterms using the redrawn map.
And I’m not quite sure the higher courts — either the Missouri Supreme Court or the US Supreme Court — will find it easy to rule against the common sense constitutional argument included in today’s 8th Circuit ruling.
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
