The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Missouri should use its newly drawn congressional map for the November 2026 midterm elections, reviving a plan designed to produce a 7-1 Republican advantage in the state’s congressional delegation.

A three-judge panel said returning to the congressional boundaries used in 2022 and 2024 after the August primary was unconstitutional. Missouri used the new districts during its August primary, but subsequent court rulings blocked the map from being used in November.

The ruling does not immediately put the new map into effect. The 8th Circuit delayed enforcement for one week to allow opponents time to appeal, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court positioned to weigh in again. The Supreme Court previously blocked the map from being used in the November election after Missouri’s Supreme Court ruled that the new districts could not take effect unless approved by voters.

The new map was drawn by Missouri Republicans during a 2025 special legislative session after President Donald Trump called on Republican-led states to pursue mid-decade redistricting. The plan significantly reshaped the Kansas City area, where Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver currently represents the 5th Congressional District. Under the new boundaries, Kansas City is divided among three districts, putting Cleaver’s seat at the center of the redistricting fight.

The map also affects several other 2026 House races. Missouri currently has two Democratic representatives, Cleaver in the 5th District and Rep. Cori Bush in the 1st District, while Republicans hold the state’s other six House seats. The new boundaries would leave one Democratic district and seven Republican districts based on the 2024 presidential results, making the redrawn 5th District one of the most consequential contests created by the new lines.

Missouri’s Republican-held races would also be conducted under different geographic boundaries if the new map takes effect. The state’s current Republican incumbents include Ann Wagner in the 2nd District, Bob Onder in the 3rd, Mark Alford in the 4th, Sam Graves in the 6th, Eric Burlison in the 7th, and Jason Smith in the 8th. The redistricting changes the constituencies those candidates and their challengers would represent in November.

The legal dispute has also created uncertainty for the candidates who won their August primaries under the new boundaries. A separate lawsuit has challenged the August results in the 5th District, arguing that changing the boundaries after the primary could affect which candidates were properly nominated.

Missouri’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that a referendum petition challenging the map was valid and that the congressional districts adopted in 2022 remained in effect for the November election unless voters approve the new plan. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently paused a federal trial judge’s order requiring Missouri to use the new map.

The latest appellate ruling therefore leaves Missouri’s congressional boundaries unsettled just weeks before Election Day. State officials had been preparing to use the older districts, and absentee ballots for overseas and military voters have already been distributed using those boundaries. The Supreme Court is expected to have the final say if the dispute is appealed.