KC councilman praises gerrymandered Missouri map, says it unites Northland voters
.jpg "A crowd gathers outside of the Missouri Supreme Court after legal arguments in a trio of cases that could decide whether Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional map, which slices through Kansas City, can be used in the 2026 midterm election.")
As Kansas City-area Democrats are pushing for the state to certify a referendum vote on Missouri’s new electoral map, at least one local official — and congressional hopeful — is thrilled with the state Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the map, saying it unifies the community he represents.
Kansas City Councilman Nathan Willett, who represents the 1st District in the Northland, praised the new map Wednesday afternoon, claiming it “best fits with our values.”
“Speaking as a Northlander, it’s great to see Clay and Platte counties all together in one congressional district,” Willett, a Republican from Platte County, told The Star Wednesday. “It’s important to not have Northland voices separated, and I think this best represents Missouri values.”
The map, approved by Republican lawmakers last year under pressure from President Donald Trump, carves Kansas City into three Republican-leaning congressional districts, placing Clay and Platte counties into the 6th District, which stretches across northern Missouri to the Illinois border. That’s the district Willett is running for a congressional seat in.
Kansas City voters will be split into the 4th, 5th and 6th Congressional Districts under the new map. The 5th District would extend more than 100 miles east to central Missouri, while the 4th District would stretch from downtown Kansas City to the Ozarks region.
Republicans currently control six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts while Democrats hold the 5th District in Kansas City and the 1st District in St. Louis.
Congressional districts are typically only redrawn once every decade based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
In the months since Missouri lawmakers approved the map in September, three cases have been filed against it, including two dealing with the map’s boundaries, claiming it illegally splits up Kansas City. The third case focuses on which map can be used in this year’s upcoming elections.
On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the state’s gerrymandered congressional map in a pair of landmark rulings, stating that the map itself was legal and did not violate the state constitution, and that the map was not currently blocked even though a referendum campaign turned in signatures to force a statewide vote on it.
The new map would ease a path for Republicans to unseat Kansas City’s longtime Democratic congressman, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who represents the 5th district.
However, one of the rulings left open the possibility that if Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins certified the more than 300,000 signatures submitted to prompt a referendum vote, the map would then be blocked, creating confusing conditions for local election officials preparing for an August primary.
Willet, who was elected to Kansas City Council in 2023, said Missouri is “best represented with Mike Johnson as speaker opposed to someone as crazy as Hakeem Jeffries,” the New York Democrat Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I’m glad to see another conservative that’s going to be able to go to Washington and support the America-first agenda,” Willett said. “We must maintain Republican control of Congress. It’s better in line with Missouri values.”
This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 5:41 PM.
