Protesters gathered outside the Capitol before filling the rotunda and the floors above. Terrence Wise, an organizer with low-wage workers group Stand Up KC, said Missouri lawmakers were \u201cdoing the bidding of a dictator and Washington, D.C.\u201d and corporations instead of listening to voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe elect these folks, but by gerrymandering our voices away, they’re trying to take away our freedoms and our political representation, and that ain’t right,\u201d Wise said. \u201cThey want to make it harder for us to transform our everyday living conditions. But we’re the Show-Me State, which means we have a mandate to show our elected leaders what democracy looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Brian Munoz<\/p>\n
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St. Louis Public Radio<\/p>\n
Thousands gather to protest the Missouri legislature\u2019s efforts to redraw congressional maps to favor the GOP and amend the initiative petition process on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.<\/p>\n
The new map would split Kansas City, currently in the 5th Congressional District, along its historical racial dividing line<\/a>, Troost Avenue. A large portion of the city\u2019s Black community would be moved to the 4th District, represented by Republican Mark Alford.<\/p>\n GOP leaders, including Gov. Mike Kehoe, have said that Missouri is a \u201cRepublican state” and the 7-1 delegation more accurately reflects voter priorities.<\/p>\n \u201cMissouri\u2019s conservative, common-sense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that,” Kehoe said in a statement announcing the special session.<\/a><\/p>\n Republican state Rep. Dirk Deaton, who sponsored the House bill, said the new map is more compact and competitive than the one passed in 2022.<\/p>\n “Our friends on the other side have so decided they’d rather be out of touch with Missouri voters than to fight for their votes,” Deaton said this week.<\/p>\n Black Democratic legislators have said the Republican map is racist<\/a>. The NAACP sued<\/a> over the new lines, arguing that Gov. Mike Kehoe\u2019s decision to call a special session was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n Celisa Calacal<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n KCUR 89.3<\/p>\n Linden Bowie, a pastor in St. Louis County, joined with the National Baptist Convention on Wednesday to criticize efforts by Missouri Republicans to gerrymander Kansas City.<\/p>\n House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Democrat from Kansas City, said she was grateful for the protesters\u2019 presence and that House representatives are standing with Democratic senators as they try to stop the two measures.<\/p>\n \u201cOur democracy is only as good as the effort we put into it, and we have to fight,\u201d Aune said. \u201cThis fight takes all of us. This fight is not just in the legislature. It’s not just in Missouri. It’s in states across the country. It’s in homes and communities where people are having conversations. We need to harness this righteous anger because November of 2026 is coming, and we’ve got to vote them out.\u201d<\/p>\n Protesters spoke against Kehoe, Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O\u2019Laughlin, R-Shelbina, and House Speaker Jon Patterson, R-Lee\u2019s Summit, for their part in redrawing the state\u2019s congressional map.<\/p>\n Patterson voted against both proposals. But Fran Marion, a Kansas City Wendy\u2019s worker who organizes with the Missouri Workers Center, said it was too little, too late. Marion questioned why Patterson didn\u2019t take a public position on redistricting or try to stop it from moving forward.<\/p>\n \u201cMake no mistake: Speaker Patterson has been actively facilitating an authoritarian power grab,\u201d Marion said. \u201cThis vote, while a step in the right direction, is just a fig leaf to try and hide his shame in ignoring the will of the people to make this bill a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian Munoz<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n St. Louis Public Radio<\/p>\n UAW Local 249\u2019s Sydne Donaldson, 33, of Kansas City, right joins hundreds of union workers to protest the Missouri legislature\u2019s efforts to redraw congressional maps to favor the GOP and amend the initiative petition process on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.<\/p>\n The rally follows multiple large-scale protests against redistricting around the state, including on Labor Day in the St. Louis area<\/a> and in Kansas City, where hundreds of protesters lined Mill Creek Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n Usually, states redraw their districts early in the decade after the U.S. Census. But President Donald Trump set off a redistricting battle nationwide in July, first calling on Texas Republicans to redraw their map to help win five more seats in the 2026 midterms. <\/p>\n Democratic leaders in California are asking voters to back a plan that would give them an advantage in five seats, while Trump is calling on Indiana and Florida to join Missouri in strengthening Republican chances.<\/p>\n Brian Munoz<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n St. Louis Public Radio<\/p>\n Missouri Democratic Chair Russ Carnahan, center, and Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel watch as thousands rally against a GOP-led effort to redraw the state\u2019s congressional maps and amend the initiative petition process on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at the Capitol in Jefferson City.<\/p>\n Denise Lieberman, director of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, spoke at the rally. She said redistricting should be about keeping communities together, but instead, the new map would tear Kansas City apart. She called on protesters to testify against the plan in the Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people pick their politicians, but here in Missouri, the politicians are trying to pick their voters,\u201d Lieberman said. \u201cThat ain’t right, and you know something else, it’s not legal. Missouri lawmakers are embarking on an illegal, unconstitutional and anti-democratic action to strip Missourians of their voices and the ability to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n After rallying in the rotunda, protesters filled the Senate chambers as the second phase of the special session began. Hundreds of others continued their chants: \u201cThey can\u2019t win, so they cheat\u201d and \u201cWhose state? Our state.\u201d<\/p>\n Protecting the initiative petition process<\/p>\n Brian Munoz<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n St. Louis Public Radio<\/p>\n Thousands decry the Missouri legislature\u2019s efforts to redraw congressional maps to favor the GOP and amend the initiative petition process on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.<\/p>\n Hundreds of protesters were part of unions from across the state. Members from different locals of the United Auto Workers, the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Laborers, the Amalgamated Transit Union and others joined to rail against the Republican proposals.<\/p>\n Jay Bolser is a member of the UAW Local 249 in Claycomo. He\u2019s the chair of the Community Action Program, which runs the legislative and political side of the union. He says two buses full of UAW members came from the Kansas City area to protest.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s what democracy looks like, right?\u201d Bolser said. \u201cIt\u2019s to make sure that the representatives and the senators of this great state understand that we are their voice, not the other way around. They need to represent us and that’s what they’re here for.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to redistricting, Missouri lawmakers seek to make it harder for citizen-led initiative petitions to be added to the ballot. Under their plan, a constitutional amendment proposed by citizens would need to pass in all eight congressional districts; currently, an amendment needs only statewide approval to pass.<\/p>\n Brian Munoz<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n St. Louis Public Radio<\/p>\n Josiah Zimmer, 29, of St. Louis\u2019 Tower Grove East neighborhood, joins thousands in protesting the Missouri legislature\u2019s efforts to redraw congressional maps in favor of Republicans and change the initiative petition process on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at the state Capitol in Jefferson City.<\/p>\n In 2017, Republican lawmakers in Missouri passed a right-to-work measure, which prevents companies or unions from requiring workers to join a union or pay dues. But in 2018, unions put right-to-work back on the ballot and defeated it through a voter-led initiative petition process.<\/p>\n The same process was used to overturn the state\u2019s abortion ban<\/a> last year as well as raise the state\u2019s minimum wage<\/a> and require paid sick leave. But lawmakers overturned paid sick leave last month<\/a>, and are trying to put an abortion ban back on the ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ramonda Watkins is a nursing home worker and member of SEIU Healthcare. At the rally, she said it would be detrimental to everyone in the state, not just union members, if Republican lawmakers succeed in making it harder for voter-led constitutional amendments to pass.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking away our power to put citizen-led petitions on the ballot is another way they’re attacking our democracy,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cThey stole our paid sick time, and now they want to steal our power. Being in the union, I know that our voice is the best way to stand up and make change.\u201d<\/p>\n Voters may have a say\u00a0<\/p>\n Brian Munoz<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n St. Louis Public Radio<\/p>\n Leslie French, a 61-year-old Platte City resident, protests Trump-backed efforts to redraw the state\u2019s congressional maps on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at the Capitol in Jefferson City.<\/p>\n While the redrawn congressional lines appear to be on a fast track to pass by the end of the week, voters may end up having the last word.<\/p>\n Because too few members of the House voted for the new map for it to go into effect immediately upon Kehoe\u2019s signature, redistricting opponents will have 90 days to collect roughly 106,000 to put the measure up for a statewide vote<\/a>. If they get the signatures, the map can\u2019t go into effect unless Missourians approve it.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t even like politics, OK? I just know we need transparency,\u201d Jefferson City resident Frida Tucker said. \u201cWe need to stop the power grab. We don’t need to do it every three years, OK? Like, something’s not right here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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