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2 GOP U.S. House nominees ask federal judges to reinstate district lines
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ST. LOUIS — Two Missouri Republican U.S. House nominees on Friday asked the U.S. District Court here to reinstate a GOP-led gerrymander of congressional district lines thrown out by the state Supreme Court.
The state has "been plunged into legal and electoral uncertainty over which Congressional maps govern Missouri's 2026 general election and which candidates represent whom," says the suit, filed by 3rd District incumbent Rep. Bob Onder of Lake Saint Louis and 5th District nominee Rick Brattin of Harrisonville.
The two argue that the state high court's ruling, issued Thursday, is unprecedented and violates both the U.S. and state constitutions.
The suit also says that returning the state to the district lines drawn up by the Legislature in 2022 in time for the Nov. 3 election isn't feasible "without significant cost, confusion, and hardship to voters, candidates and election administrators alike."
The move represents a second legal avenue to try to get the federal courts to intervene in the issue.
Two other GOP officials, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, had said previously they would take the matter directly to the U.S. Supreme Court with an appeal there.
The state Supreme Court in its ruling allowed a referendum question to be placed on the November ballot asking if voters want the new maps passed by the Republican-run Legislature last year to help the GOP win what has been a Kansas City-based district.
That district has been represented by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver for more than two decades.
The court's decision means that the new maps won't be in effect for the election and the old ones passed by the Legislature in 2022 will return.