After posting a TikTok reading a letter I wrote to Governor Kehoe regarding redistricting I had many requests to make it available in a written format people could use as a template for their own letter. If you are feeling creative feel free to modify this for use as a letter to the editor and send it to your local paper.
Dear Governor Kehoe,
I'm writing today to ask that you do not call a special session on redistricting. There is no precedent to redraw our congressional maps in between censuses. There have been no events that have led to any major population changes which would be cause for changing the districts. Trump received 58.5% of the vote in Missouri in 2024. I'm sure you are aware that you only received 59% of the vote in 2024 which is an indication that at least 41% of Missouri voters do not consider themselves Republican. Republicans currently hold 75% of Missouri's seats in the US house of representatives. If anything the map should be redrawn so that Republicans have five of eight seats giving them 62.5% of seats, which is much closer to the actual percentage of Missouri voters who supported the republican party in 2024. The Missouri constitution article 3 section 10 states:
The last decennial census of the United States shall be used in apportioning representatives and determining the population of senatorial and representative districts. Such districts may be altered from time to time as public convenience may require.
What public convenience requires districts to be altered when they were just re-drawn in 2022?Missouri has not redistricted in between censuses since the 1960s when the Supreme Court required it to adjust population variances between the districts. Why now?
I implore you to set your own personal and political desires aside, and do what you know is reasonable, fair and just. Leave the maps alone until after the 2030 census. Only cheaters need to change the rules of the game while it is being played.