ST. LOUIS, MO – September 22, 2026 (STL.News) Missouri Congressional Map – A federal appeals court has ruled that Missouri must use its 2025 Missouri Congressional Map in the Nov. 3 general election, adding another chapter to an extraordinary legal dispute that has left election officials caught between conflicting state and federal court rulings as absentee voting gets underway.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled Monday that holding Missouri’s general election under the state’s 2022 congressional districts after the Aug. 4 primary, when the 2025 districts were used, would violate the U.S. Constitution.
But the ruling does not immediately put the 2025 map into effect.
The appeals court stayed enforcement until Sept. 28, allowing opponents time to seek relief from the U.S. Supreme Court. For now, Missouri election authorities are continuing preparations under the 2022 congressional districts.
The dispute is particularly urgent because ballots have already begun moving through the election system. Military and overseas ballots using the 2022 districts began going out Friday, and absentee voting for eligible Missouri voters begins Tuesday.
The case could now return to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already intervened in the Missouri redistricting dispute.
Missouri Congressional Map – Appeals court focuses on primary and general election
At the center of the 8th Circuit’s decision is an unusual problem: Missouri held its Aug. 4 primary election under one Missouri congressional map but is preparing to hold the Nov. 3 general election under another.
Missouri’s official election calendar confirms the statewide primary occurred Aug. 4. The Board of State Canvassers certified the official results on Aug. 25.
Candidates had filed and campaigned based on the 2025 congressional districts, and voters selected party nominees under those boundaries.
The appeals court concluded that switching district lines between the primary and general elections would improperly change which voters participate in selecting congressional representatives.
The court said Missouri’s current plan to use the 2022 map in November violates the Constitution and concluded that use of the 2025 map is necessary to comply with federal constitutional requirements.
The court directed U.S. Chief District Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri to enter a permanent injunction preventing the state from using a congressional map other than the 2025 plan.
Clark subsequently issued the order but included the temporary stay through Sept. 28.
Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin, the GOP nominee in the 5th Congressional District, and two Missouri voters brought the federal litigation.
People Not Politicians, the organization behind the referendum challenging the new map, intervened in the case.
Missouri Congressional Map – Missouri Supreme Court reached a different conclusion
The federal ruling creates an unusual conflict with a Sept. 3 decision from the Missouri Supreme Court.
The state court was addressing a different legal question — whether opponents of House Bill 1 successfully invoked their referendum rights under the Missouri Constitution.
The Missouri Supreme Court determined that the referendum petition challenging HB 1 was “legal, sufficient, and timely.”
That determination had significant consequences.
According to the Missouri Supreme Court, HB 1 never took effect because the referendum suspended the legislation pending a statewide vote.
The court ruled that the congressional districts the General Assembly established in 2022 therefore remain in effect for the November election and that HB 1 cannot take effect unless Missouri voters approve it.
The state Supreme Court ordered Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to certify the referendum and place it on the November ballot.
That referendum is now Proposition A.
According to the official ballot language from the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, a “yes” vote approves HB 1 and its new congressional boundaries, while a “no” vote leaves the 2022 congressional boundaries in place.
The result creates an extraordinary possibility: Missouri voters could cast congressional ballots using the 2025 districts while simultaneously voting on whether to approve the legislation that established those districts.
Whether that situation actually occurs now depends heavily on what happens in the federal courts.
Missouri Congressional Map – Federal and state courts considered different issues
The conflicting decisions require an important distinction.
The 8th Circuit did not simply overrule the Missouri Supreme Court on the meaning of Missouri law.
The Missouri Supreme Court determined that under the Missouri Constitution, the successful referendum prevented HB 1 from taking effect.
The federal appeals court considered whether using the 2022 districts for the general election after conducting the primary under the 2025 districts would comply with the U.S. Constitution and federal law.
As a result, two courts considering different constitutional questions have reached conclusions that point Missouri election officials toward different congressional maps.
That conflict is a major reason another trip to the U.S. Supreme Court is expected.
Missouri Congressional Map – How Missouri reached this point
The redistricting battle began in 2025 when Gov. Mike Kehoe called lawmakers into a special session to consider new congressional boundaries.
Kehoe announced the special session Aug. 29, 2025, and said his administration had developed what it called the “Missouri First Map.”
The governor’s office said the proposal would split fewer counties and municipalities, preserve two congressional districts as then drawn, and keep all members of Missouri’s congressional delegation within their districts.
The General Assembly passed HB 1 on Sept. 12, 2025.
Kehoe signed it Sept. 28.
In his official announcement, Kehoe thanked state legislators, Missouri’s congressional delegation, and President Donald Trump for their efforts to advance the map.
The governor said at the time that he believed the plan better represented Missouri.
Opponents immediately challenged the mid-decade redistricting effort and organized a referendum campaign to put HB 1 before voters.
That referendum eventually led to the Sept. 3 Missouri Supreme Court ruling now at the center of the federal litigation.
Missouri Congressional Map – 5th Congressional District at center of fight
The most politically significant changes involve Missouri’s 5th Congressional District.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver represents the existing district, centered around Kansas City.
The 2025 map substantially restructures the district. The Republican-backed redraw was part of a broader mid-decade redistricting push supported by Trump as Republicans sought additional favorable congressional districts ahead of the 2026 elections.
Missouri currently has eight U.S. House seats, with six held by Republicans and two by Democrats.
The new boundaries could give Republicans a chance to win seven of the state’s eight congressional districts, although voters would ultimately decide the outcome.
Brattin, the Republican nominee in the redrawn 5th District, praised Monday’s appellate ruling and argued that voters who participated in the primary under the new map should vote under the same districts in November.
Opponents contend Missouri voters properly exercised their constitutional referendum rights and should be allowed to decide whether HB 1 takes effect.
Missouri Congressional Map – Supreme Court has already intervened
The U.S. Supreme Court has already become involved in the dispute.
After the Missouri Supreme Court’s Sept. 3 decision, Hoskins sought emergency relief from the nation’s highest court.
That proceeding was followed by separate federal litigation and another Supreme Court application.
On Sept. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed a federal district court order that would have required Missouri to use the 2025 congressional map while the case proceeded through the 8th Circuit.
The Supreme Court’s docket in People Not Politicians v. Onder, No. 26A326, states that the stay continues through disposition of the appeal in the 8th Circuit and, if a timely petition for a writ of certiorari is filed, through the Supreme Court’s consideration of that petition.
If certiorari is denied, the stay terminates automatically. If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, the stay continues until the court issues its judgment.
That procedural history means Monday’s 8th Circuit ruling should not be interpreted as an immediate and final determination that the November election will use the 2025 districts.
The litigation remains active.
Missouri Congressional Map – Election officials face shrinking timeline
While attorneys continue arguing constitutional questions, Missouri’s local election authorities face a practical problem: Election Day is approaching, and voting has begun.
Federal law requires military and overseas ballots to be transmitted well before Election Day. Those ballots began going out Friday under the 2022 congressional map.
Absentee voting for qualifying Missouri voters begins Sept. 22.
Changing congressional districts at this stage is more complicated than replacing a candidate’s name on a ballot.
Congressional boundaries intersect with Missouri House districts, municipal boundaries and local ballot issues. Those combinations determine the different “ballot styles” that election authorities must create for voters depending on where they live.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon told the Missouri Independent that her office had already tested voting equipment using the 2022 districts and expected to mail about 1,000 ballots Tuesday.
Lennon said another change would require election officials to regenerate the election, reprogram and proof ballots, arrange another printing order and retest absentee voting equipment while absentee voting is underway.
The Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities has also warned the federal courts about the logistical problems associated with another late change.
Missouri Congressional Map – Missouri has repeatedly switched map instructions
The legal dispute has already caused Missouri election officials to receive changing instructions over which congressional districts should govern the election.
The 2025 districts were used for candidate filing and the Aug. 4 primary.
On Sept. 3, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the referendum prevented HB 1 from taking effect and ordered use of the 2022 districts.
A federal district court subsequently ordered use of the 2025 districts.
The U.S. Supreme Court then stayed that federal order, returning election preparations to the 2022 districts.
Now the 8th Circuit has ruled that the November election must be conducted under the 2025 districts — but has temporarily stayed that order while Supreme Court review is sought.
Election officials therefore remain under instructions to use the 2022 map as of Tuesday morning.
If the latest federal injunction ultimately becomes enforceable, local election authorities would again have to change congressional district assignments during an election already underway.
Missouri Congressional Map – Sept. 28 becomes next critical date
The immediate deadline is Sept. 28, when the stay attached to the 8th Circuit’s latest order is scheduled to expire.
People Not Politicians has indicated it intends to seek further review.
The Supreme Court could therefore again determine which congressional boundaries Missouri uses in November.
Until then, the most important fact for Missouri voters is straightforward:
The 8th Circuit has ruled in favor of using the 2025 congressional map, but that ruling is temporarily stayed. Missouri election officials are continuing to administer the election using the 2022 districts while the legal challenge proceeds.
At the same time, Proposition A remains scheduled for the Nov. 3 ballot, giving Missouri voters the opportunity to approve or reject HB 1 itself.
The result is an election dispute involving two congressional maps, two constitutions, state and federal courts, an active statewide referendum, and election officials already distributing ballots.
Unless the litigation ends before Sept. 28, the U.S. Supreme Court may once again determine which map Missouri election officials must follow only weeks before voters head to the polls.
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