September 8, 2025 Story by: Editor
The NAACP has filed a lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court seeking to block Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe’s special legislative session, arguing that it is unconstitutional and poses a threat to the voting rights of Black residents.
Filed on September 3, 2025, the lawsuit asserts that Kehoe’s convening of the special session is not justified under the Missouri Constitution. It further contends that the proposed redistricting plan would fragment Black political influence, particularly within the Kansas City area, effectively diluting the community’s electoral power.
“Our communities already face systemic barriers to full participation in our democracy,” said Nimrod T. Chapel Jr., President of the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP. “This attempt to redraw maps behind closed doors and outside of regular order is nothing more than an attack on Black Missourians’ ability to elect leaders who reflect and respect their needs. We will use every tool at our disposal to stop it.”
The NAACP, in partnership with the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP, is challenging the state’s effort to convene a special legislative session aimed at redrawing political maps in a manner that would weaken the voting power of Black Missourians.
The lawsuit marks the first legal challenge against the special session convened by Gov. Mike Kehoe to redraw the state’s congressional map and splinter Kansas City to create a 7-1 Republican-dominated map.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Cole County, an attempt to block a special legislative session called by Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe to gerrymandering the states’s congressional district— with a focus on Kansas City. It’s the first legal challenge against the special session, which convened on Wednesday.
The lawsuit argues that Kehoe’s decision to call a special session was unconstitutional, and that his reasons for doing so — to approve a new Congressional map and change the laws around citizen initiative petitions — do not constitute an “extraordinary occasion.”
Impact on Black Voters
The proposed redistricting plan, which has been criticized as a partisan gerrymander, would split the Kansas City metropolitan area into three separate congressional districts. The NAACP asserts that the plan is a deliberate attempt to undermine Black political representation and is part of a broader pattern of efforts to suppress Black voters in Missouri.
The map proposed by Kehoe and Missouri Republicans would carve up Kansas City and splinter votes from the 5th Congressional district into the 4th and 6th districts, lumping together urban voters into more rural districts currently held by Republicans.
Plaintiffs in the Lawsuit
The lawsuit names Governor Kehoe and other state officials as defendants and seeks an injunction to prevent the special session from proceeding. The NAACP is joined in the lawsuit by two individual plaintiffs: Patricia Jones, a Kansas City resident, and Traci Wilson Kleekamp, a Columbia resident. The plaintiffs argue that the redistricting plan would directly harm their ability to participate in the political process and dilute their votes.
