ICYMI: NRF-Supported Plaintiffs Call on State Court to Strike Down Missouri’s Mid-Decade Gerrymander

Washington, D.C. – Today, a four-day bench trial concluded before the Circuit Court of Jackson County in Healey v. Missouri, a legal challenge to Missouri’s new congressional gerrymander. As the trial was underway, the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF), which is supporting the Healey plaintiffs, hosted a press call with its Executive Director, Marina Jenkins, who provided an overview of the Healey plaintiffs’ arguments before the court.

Excerpts from remarks as delivered by Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the NRF:

“Both the Missouri Constitution and Missouri Supreme Court precedent are clear on the compactness of redistricting maps. Missouri’s Constitution requires that congressional districts be compact as can be, and in past cases, the Missouri Supreme Court has upheld this constitutional right and evaluated compactness by considering whether districts depart from the principle of a “closely united territory” and, if so, whether those deviations are justified by other recognized redistricting factors. The new map fails to bring “closely united” groups together in numerous ways.”

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“Here’s the bottom line: Missouri’s mid-decade gerrymander is a lose-lose situation for voters in Kansas City and those in smaller rural communities.

The strategic manipulation of district lines breaks up long-standing communities and forces urban and rural communities with vastly different needs to share the same member of Congress, which will now make these communities compete for their voices to be heard in Congress.

And let’s be clear: this map will have tangible repercussions for all Missourians.

It’s for that very reason that Republican lawmakers rejected a similar gerrymander in 2022, citing that rural and urban parts of the state have different views and needs.”

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“What’s happening in Missouri is not happening in a vacuum. The national gerrymandering crisis that Donald Trump and DC Republicans started in Texas continued in Missouri and North Carolina, and it is showing no signs of stopping at this point. 

No one wins this race to the bottom. Least of all the American people. This court should send a strong signal that unconstitutional gerrymanders will not be tolerated in Missouri.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

Following the 2020 census, the Missouri House and Senate rejected congressional gerrymanders that would have carved up Kansas City, and instead enacted a map that maintained the core of Kansas City in its own district, as had been the case for over a century.

However, in July 2025, public reports indicated that President Trump began pressuring Missouri Republicans to enact an unlawful mid-decade gerrymander to create another Republican-leaning district by splitting the 5th congressional district, which encompassed most of Kansas City. Despite receiving calls from constituents expressing overwhelming opposition and voters voicing their disagreement during committee hearings in both chambers, lawmakers in the Missouri House and Senate passed the proposed gerrymander, and Governor Kehoe signed the new map into law. 

Immediately after the enactment of the new gerrymander, the NRF-supported plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in state court, arguing two claims: 1) that the map is an unconstitutional mid-decade redistricting, and 2) that the new map violates Missourians’ right to vote in compact congressional districts—a right guaranteed by the state constitution. This week’s trial focused on the second claim regarding the lack of compactness of the districts in Missouri’s mid-decade gerrymander.  

The court’s decision in this case could determine whether Missouri’s new congressional gerrymander will be used in the 2026 midterm elections. To learn more about the NRF’s work, click here.

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