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By Hugh Cameron
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The court-stalled implementation of a new congressional map in Missouri has for months placed a question mark over the state's upcoming elections. Despite a recent decision from the Supreme Court, some doubts still linger, days out from Election Day.
Last year, President Donald Trump urged Republicans across the U.S. to redraw their congressional maps to favor the GOP. Missouri’s Republican-led legislature joined historically red states such as Texas and North Carolina—but also Democrat states like California—in doing so. This resulted in major changes for the Kansas City area in particular.
Missouri’s secretary of state rejected efforts to pause this change long enough for the August primary to take place using the new map. Afterwards, the Eighth Circuit held that switching maps for the general election would be a violation of both federal law and the Constitution. However, the Supreme Court has stayed this judgment and ruled that the midterm elections will proceed with the boundaries of the 2022 map, despite candidates having been chosen under the 2025 version.
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"Regardless of what this court does," the state’s Solicitor General Lou Capozzi wrote ahead of the decision on September 25, "Missouri will not be able to run an orderly 2026 general election."
What Did the Supreme Court Settle?
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said that the 2025 map had not yet taken effect due to the nature of Missouri’s referendum process for such changes. It also underscored the fact that voting was underway, and that the older map was already effectively governing the election.
"The election is not merely upcoming; it has already started," the ruling read. "Ballots using the 2022 map have been printed and mailed. Absentee voting has already begun, as has military and overseas voting."
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Citing estimates that came up during the court cases, Jeffery Jenkins, professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Law at the University of Southern California, told Newsweek the differences in the maps used for the primary and general election means around 1.4 million Missourians have changed districts. Around 284,000 primary voters will now be voting in a different district, he added.
The Missouri Independent said voters across 28 counties are in this situation, though Jenkins said this was only likely to impact the results in the Kansas City-based Fifth District in Democrats’ favor.
"The likeliest outcome therefore shifts from a possible 7-1 Republican delegation to the existing 6-2 split," he said, "which is potentially important if House control is close."
What Kind of Challenges Could Missouri’s Elections Face?
The decision settled the immediate question of which map would be used for the 2026 election. To some, however, the stay decision has failed to address the underlying legal dispute.
Close results, voter-district disputes or a contested outcome for the redistricting referendum—also taking place November 3—could revive legal disputes and disagreements between the courts.
Immediate Challenges
Potential post-result litigation aside, some concrete concerns have emerged regarding the administration of the upcoming general election.
Back in September, Kansas City’s election board sent out an "urgent notice" as the case made its way through the courts. It warned that, if someone voted under a map that the courts then changed, they would be unable to cast another ballot.
Election workers have also been "exasperated" as the saga unfolded, according to the Park Hills Daily Journal, with five map changes over just three weeks during the litigation.
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However, Shawn Kieffer, the Republican director for the Kansas City Election Board, told Newsweek he had "no concerns at this point."
"The ballots have been reviewed, and voters have been using the ballots generated from the new map for several weeks. We have not had any questions or concerns during this period," he said.
Regarding possible postelection challenges, Kieffer said these would likely "go to the court system." He added that "our attorneys will monitor this activity and are fully prepared to answer any questions that may arise."
After the Results
"There is a viable legal argument against using different maps for the primary and general election," said Jenkins.
He told Newsweek the fact that some voters must select from a list of candidates they did not help to choose could be seen as violating the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause; this ensures all similarly situated voters are treated equally.
"The Eighth Circuit accepted that argument before the U.S. Supreme Court intervened, so a postelection challenge—it seems to me—would not be frivolous," he added.
Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School and expert in redistricting, told Newsweek that the results in the Fifth District will "likely be affected a great deal."
However, no candidate has yet announced their intention to challenge the results of the November 3 election. This includes Rick Brattin, the Republican nominee who won his August primary in the redrawn Fifth District.
And Levitt said that the map switch "doesn’t leave any viable postelection challenges for the general."
"At this point, those with grievances have had those grievances addressed by the courts, and anyone else will have waited too long to turn to the courts after the election."
Jenkins said that there was a possibility of a postelection challenge. He added that "concrete ballot errors capable of changing a close result would present a different question." A challenge, however, would not prevent certification, and Jenkins likewise predicts that its "chance of success is low."
"There’s no magic legal switch to affect certification," said Levitt. "Voters will vote, and their preferences will be recorded, tallied, and certified. That’s it."
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and James Debens
Register for our November 10 discussion, 'Newsweek Webinar: How the Politics of AI Could Shape Midterms,' which will examine how AI policy played in key races, data centers, lobbying and the political lines that emerged.
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