Washington, D.C. — This week, Missouri Republicans are following orders from Washington to push through a gerrymander they rejected just three years ago. 

In 2022, the Republican-led Missouri House and Senate rejected gerrymanders that carved up Kansas City, and instead passed the state’s current map, which gives Kansas City its own district. “I think the 5th is, I think everybody agrees, generally reflective of that part of the world,” said then Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden at the time. “We’re not the same. We have different views,” State Rep. Ann Kelley (R-HD 127) said in 2022 about the differing views of rural and urban communities when she opposed a gerrymander that carved up Kansas City because it grouped rural counties like Barton in southwest Missouri with portions of Kansas City.

In July 2025, Missouri Republicans balked at the Trump pressure campaign to draw a mid-decade gerrymander. “We do redistricting every 10 years,” House Speaker Pro Tem Chad Perkins of Bowling Green said. “We’ve already done that. To do it again would be out of character with the way Missouri operates.” 

But once pressure ramped up from Washington in August, Missouri Republicans quickly caved at the expense of their own constituents. Earlier this week, Speaker Pro Tem Perkins brought the egregious gerrymander to the House floor for a vote, and State Representative Kelley voted in favor of a gerrymander that does the exact thing she opposed just three years ago – it puts a rural Barton County in the same district as portions of Kansas City. That gerrymander passed the Missouri House with only Republican support and bipartisan opposition. 

What changed? Nothing. Except that Missouri Republicans have decided to follow orders from Washington instead of their own constituents. The Columbia Missourian’s August 21 headline says it all:  “Missouri GOP leader says congressional map redraw starts in D.C.” 

Missourians did not want this gerrymander three years ago, and they do not want it today. As the gerrymander makes its way to the Missouri Senate floor, Missourians are continuing to show up and loudly oppose this attempt to silence their voices. Meanwhile, President Trump is continuing to pressure Missouri Republicans to do his bidding instead of listening to Missourians.

Missouri Senate Republicans have a choice as this gerrymander goes to a vote. They can follow orders from Washington and face an angry electorate at the ballot box, or they can stand up for their own constituents as they did just three years ago. 

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