Missouri state lawmakers will return to Jefferson City on Wednesday to begin the process of redrawing their state’s congressional maps, after Texas and California launched their own redistricting efforts in the hopes of benefiting both major political parties. The GOP is expected to gain one House seat as a result of the redistricting in Missouri.

President Trump announced last week that the Missouri GOP had signed on his plan for a redistricting effort, in the hopes of staving off as many Democratic victories as possible in the 2026 midterms. Historically, the first midterm elections for a president are disastrous, and the Republicans hold only a three-seat majority in the House. 

Missouri’s governor, Mike Kehoe, announced on Friday that he was calling state legislators back to the capital for a special session. He wants them to address both redistricting and reforms to the statewide ballot initiative process. 

Mr. Kehoe released his proposal for a new congressional map that would split Kansas City among three different districts, allowing the Republicans to likely pick up one seat. If enacted, the Democrats would likely be left with only one Missouri seat based at St. Louis. 

“Today, I am calling on the General Assembly to take action on congressional redistricting and initiative petition reform to ensure our districts and Constitution truly put Missouri values first,” Mr. Kehoe said in a statement. “This is about clarity for voters and ownership of our future, and I hope the legislature will work together to pass our Missouri First Map.”

“Missourians are more alike than we are different, and our Missouri values, across both sides of the aisle, are closer to each other than those of the extreme Left representation of New York, California, and Illinois,” he added. 

The map would eliminate the district currently represented by a Democratic congressman, Emmanuel Cleaver, who has held the seat for more than 20 years. In response to Mr. Kehoe’s call for a special session, Mr. Cleaver implied that he would both fight the redistricting effort in court and, if necessary, run for re-election in a redrawn district that is much more conservative than his current one. 

“Should this effort move forward, we will not concede,” he said. “The people of the Fifth District and I will fight relentlessly to ensure Missouri never becomes an antidemocratic state, where politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives. In the courts and at the ballot box, we will demand that the rule of law is upheld, our voices are heard, and democracy prevails.”

Texas has already completed its map-drawing process, which will almost certainly result in Democrats losing five seats in the state following the 2026 elections. Californians will go to the polls in November to vote on the question of whether the supermajority Democratic state legislature should be empowered to draw its own maps through the 2030 Census. 

Other states may soon join the redistricting war. The governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, has said he is leaving all options on the table. His counterpart in Illinois, JB Pritzker, said in an interview with “Face the Nation” on Sunday that it is “possible” that his legislature could convene to redraw their own maps to eliminate some or all of the three Republican seats in his state. 

Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have been pressuring Indiana Republicans to join the fight. Their state currently has two Democratic representatives in the House. Mr. Vance traveled to the state capital earlier this month to urge state lawmakers and Governor Mike Braun to redraw the maps.