����vlog

Missouri is joining a growing race to redraw congressional maps, responding to President Donald Trump's call for Republican-led states to reshape district lines to gain a competitive advantage ahead of next year's election. On social media, Trump praised Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe's decision to call a special session next week to revisit congressional maps, writing, "That will give the incredible people of Missouri the tremendous opportunity to elect an additional MAGA Republican in the 2026 midterm elections."Earlier Friday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed off on a new map designed to help Republicans gain five more seats in Texas. In California, Democrats are hoping to offset those gains with a new map of their own, but voters still need to approve it in a special election this fall.Officials in several other states are also considering revising voting maps.Democrats would need to net three seats in next year's election to take back control of the House, giving them a check on Trump's power that they currently lack in Congress. The incumbent president's party historically loses seats during midterm elections. That is what happened during Trump's first term.Redistricting usually happens once per decade after the release of new census data. The rare mid-decade push is prompting a flurry of legal challenges, but the Supreme Court has paved the way for partisan redistricting. "The Supreme Court has said that it is OK to redraw for partisan purposes. You just can't redraw in a way that violates civil rights, and the Supreme Court has not put any limitations on redrawing mid-decade," said political analyst Todd Belt. Critics argue that partisan redistricting hurts democracy by leading to less competitive elections and less responsive representatives. Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau: