{"id":43845,"date":"2025-09-11T12:17:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=43845"},"modified":"2025-09-11T12:17:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:17:32","slug":"partisan-power-grab-alarm-bells-ring-after-missouri-gop-advances-extreme-redistricting-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/11\/partisan-power-grab-alarm-bells-ring-after-missouri-gop-advances-extreme-redistricting-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Partisan Power Grab\u2019: Alarm Bells Ring After Missouri GOP Advances Extreme Redistricting Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"'Partisan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Demonstrations hold rallies around the country in support of Texas Democrats\u2019 fight against gerrymandering, in Rochester, United States, on August 16, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by John Whitney\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One state Democratic leader accused the GOP of \u201caiding and abetting the systematic destruction of our democracy by an authoritarian regime.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BRAD REED<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 10, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Republican-led Missouri House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that would redraw their state\u2019s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and potentially garner an extra seat for the GOP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As reported<\/a> by The Missouri Independent<\/em>, the redrawn map carves up the district currently being represented by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) by placing regions that have traditionally voted for Democrats into districts held by Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If all goes according to plan, the new map would give Republicans seven seats in the US House of Representatives, up from their current total of six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the map passed with Republican support, not every member of the party was on board. GOP state Rep. Bryant Wolfin, who voted against the measure, told the Independent<\/em> that his GOP colleagues were showing that they only care about raw political power above all considerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s certainly nothing conservative about ignoring the moral implications of our actions,\u201d he said. \u201cMorality is not defined by what is legal. Morality is not defined by what you can get away with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic House Minority Leader Ashley Aune was even more scathing in her denunciation of the GOP\u2019s power grab, and she accused the party of \u201caiding and abetting the systematic destruction of our democracy by an authoritarian regime led by geriatric conman who knows the only way he can win is to cheat,\u201d referring to President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although congressional maps are traditionally redrawn once per decade, Trump has been pressuring Republicans across the country to do a mid-decade gerrymander aimed at helping Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Harris, a Missouri native and managing director of media engagement at Stand Up America, accused<\/a> Missouri Republicans of doing Trump\u2019s bidding while ignoring the pressing needs of their own constituents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter pushing through a disgraceful mid-decade redistricting scheme in Texas, Donald Trump has now bullied Missouri Governor [Mike] Kehoe and Republican legislators in Missouri to do his dirty work,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead of focusing on rising prices, rural hospital closures, and disaster relief, Missouri politicians are wasting time on a partisan power grab designed to protect corrupt DC politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if the redrawn map passes the Missouri State Senate and gets signed into law, however, Missouri residents have a potential tool to block it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Louis Public Radio<\/em> reports<\/a> that opponents of the new map can give voters the final say on it by organizing a statewide referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny bill that passes out of the legislature can be put up for a statewide vote if opponents gather a certain number of signatures in six out of eight congressional districts,\u201d St. Louis Public Radio<\/em> explains. \u201cAccording to Secretary of State Denny Hoskins\u2019 website, that\u2019s a little more than 106,000 signatures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting this many signatures from across the state will be challenging, however, as opponents of the new map will have just 90 days to complete a referendum drive after the end of the current special congressional session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the same, a new poll commissioned<\/a> by Common Cause shows that the mid-decade redistricting push is broadly unpopular among voters, including those who voted for Trump in last year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, the poll found that 70% of Democrats, 60% of independents, and 51% of Republicans opposed redrawing congressional maps in the middle of the decade, and that \u201clarge majorities\u201d support the US Congress banning mid-decade redistricting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis data makes it clear: Republicans and Independents are just as tired of partisan gerrymandering as Democrats,\u201d said Virginia Kase Solom\u00f3n, president and CEO of Common Cause. \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s ask to find five seats with this mid-decade redistricting effort and his ask in 2020 to\u00a0find<\/a>\u00a0him more votes in Georgia are both attempts to take away power from the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRAD REED<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Demonstrations hold rallies around the country in support of Texas Democrats\u2019 fight against gerrymandering, in Rochester, United States, on August 16, 2025. \u00a0(Photo by John Whitney\/NurPhoto via Getty Images) One state Democratic leader accused the GOP of \u201caiding and abetting the systematic destruction of our democracy by an authoritarian regime.\u201d… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43845"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43846,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43845\/revisions\/43846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}