The Missouri congressional delegation is bracing for the possible departure of longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver as state Republicans take up a redistricting map that could eliminate his seat.

Cleaver, who’s served 11 terms in the House, could be forced out by state Republicans looking to take the state from a 6-2 GOP delegation to a 7-1 delegation. The state legislature began its special session on Wednesday, and state Democrats have little power to stop their Republican counterparts from pushing out a new congressional map.

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REDISTRICTING TRACKER: WHERE THE FIGHTS ON REDISTRICTING STAND

The Show Me State is the latest to join the nationwide redistricting battle. President Donald Trump and his GOP state and national allies are working to gain additional House seats in the 2026 midterm elections, where Republicans are defending a razor-thin majority.

Texas successfully signed a new map into law that adds five GOP seats to the congressional delegation, and California aims to offset those additions with five new Democratic seats of its own. However, Democrats do not have enough strongholds to cancel out new GOP seats if red states such as Missouri, Florida, Indiana, and Ohio all redraw their maps. 

National Democrats have blasted Republicans for “cheating,” claiming that the GOP is illegally redistricting because they know their policies are unpopular and they will lose the House next November.

“We have a historically unpopular president who introduced historically unpopular legislation,” Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) told the Washington Examiner. “And they know that they can’t win fairly, so they gotta cheat.” 

In Missouri, redistricting threatens to put Cleaver’s Kansas City-area district in the most jeopardy.

On Thursday, a Missouri House special committee on redistricting approved a plan, 10 to 4 along party lines. The plan converts Cleaver’s district into a GOP leaning seat by placing large portions of Kansas City in districts held by Reps. Mark Alford (R-MO) and Sam Graves (R-MO), as well as alters districts held by Reps. Bob Onder (R-MO) and Ann Wagner (R-MO) in the St. Louis area. The full House is likely to begin debate on the bill early next week.

Trump himself has endorsed the move to boot Cleaver, arguing it gives Missouri voters “the tremendous opportunity to elect an additional [Make America Great Again] Republican in the 2026 Midterm Elections.”

Cleaver told Politico’s The Recast newsletter that the redistricting ploy is “as stinky a plan as you could have.” 

He told local news station KBIA that “someone over at the White House is seemingly committed to fomenting what I call national nastiness as a way of establishing a one-party rule in our country.… And I think it is very dangerous.” 

Bell said that a conclusion to Cleaver’s tenure in the House warrants a more dignified end than Republicans forcing him out.

“It’s disappointing because we’re seeing legislators picking their voters instead of voters picking their legislators,” said Bell, a freshman Democrat who ousted Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) in last year’s primary. “And particularly the folks in Kansas City, but this impacts all of us, are being disenfranchised. And a good man, Rev. Cleaver, who was a friend and an ally and a mentor, deserves better.”

“He served not only his state, but his country, with dignity and class and honor, and we’re going to fight in every way that we can because we know what they’re doing is wrong,” Bell added.

Even Missouri Republicans are expressing a touch of regret at the thought of losing Cleaver.

“There’s a lot of Democrats I don’t agree with whatsoever, and that I think should be removed,” Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) told the Washington Examiner. “But I have a lot of healthy respect for Emanuel Cleaver.”

But the GOP has largely rallied around its red-state allies, asserting that Republicans are legally undergoing redistricting while blue states like California, which have independent redistricting commissions, are acting illegally. 

“The Democrats have been playing this game for a very, very long time,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) told the Washington Examiner. “I’m glad Republicans are moving forward on redistricting in a way that comports with their own state constitutions. That’s what Missouri is doing.” 

Conservative lawmakers and strategists have blasted Democrats for their response to the GOP’s redistricting plans over the last month, arguing the party’s been doing it for years, but it’s “only partisan when the other side does it.” 

“I think we’ve got a lot more to gain [nationwide] than they do, because they’ve already squeezed all the juice out of the lemon they can,” Schmitt said Thursday.

When asked if he was concerned about the tit-for-tat mentality fueling the redistricting battle, Schmitt said Republicans have “finally woken up to the idea that we need to fight back.” 

Alford said in a statement last week that redistricting, regardless of the new lines, will allow Republicans to “continue to advance the America First agenda, while providing top-notch service to ALL constituents no matter their political affiliations.”

“We have said from the outset this effort is between the White House, [Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R)] and the state legislature,” Alford said. “Now that the Governor has called for a special session on this matter and reform the ballot initiative petitions process, we stand behind him.”

Burlison applauds the redistricting efforts with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, stating that he’s been advocating a 7-1 Republican map in Missouri since he served as a state senator from 2019 until 2023.

“The only reason why it didn’t happen [sooner] is because of politics,” Burlison said. “So it’s ironic now that here we are, four years later, and the people who were the key decision leaders, Republicans, back then that played politics and drew a 6-2 map, are having to eat crow and draw a 7-1 map.” 

“So I’m just sitting back, eating my popcorn, and watching,” Burlison quipped. “I’m not going to get involved. I feel very confident that no matter what they draw, God has me in his hands.” 

The country should not expect the same level of pushback from Democratic state lawmakers in Missouri as it got from Texas Democrats, who engaged in a nearly two-week walkout and took refuge in blue states to stall the Lone Star State’s redistricting plan. It was semi-successful, forcing Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Texas House leaders to end the first session and call up a second special session, but a new map was passed quickly after the second began.

Limited pushback is largely because Democrats do not have the numbers in Missouri to stage a walkout. While Texas requires two-thirds of the body to be in attendance for a quorum, Missouri’s legislature only requires a simple majority — and the GOP holds roughly a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the Missouri legislature.

“We can’t do what Texas did,” Missouri state House Minority Leader Ashley Aune told NBC News. “I wish we could.”

“There’s literally nothing procedurally, there’s nothing strategically that we can do as Democrats in the super minority to prevent these maps from passing,” she added. “That said, we are making them uncomfortable every step of the way.”

Doug Beck, the Democratic minority leader in the state Senate, told the outlet that it “doesn’t matter” whether Democrats are present or not in the chamber, “they can have session without us if we’re not there.” 

Bell said he’s been in contact with the state Democratic caucus, offering assistance in any way possible.

UTAH REDISTRICTING OFFERS DEMOCRATS A BRIGHT SPOT WITH CALIFORNIA IN LIMBO

“Anything we can do — come up to Kansas City, calling legislators, getting coffee — whatever we need to do, we’ll do it, because not only does [Cleaver] deserve better, but the state and the country, for that matter, deserve it,” Bell said.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Cleaver for comment.

Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.