Commentary: When Words Ring Hollow: Gov. Kehoe’s Democracy for Some

Commentary: When Words Ring Hollow: Gov. Kehoe’s Democracy for Some

By lwilliams@semourbanvoices.com - November 24, 2025

At the Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. Federal Courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe looked every bit the statesman. Presiding over a naturalization ceremony, he welcomed new citizens with soaring words about democracy.

“Your voices, your votes, your ideas: each will help shape the future of this state and this nation,” Kehoe said. “We look forward to seeing the contributions that you will make, the communities you will strengthen and the generations you will inspire.”

For those who raised their right hands that day, it was a moving reminder that America promises freedom, equality, and a political system where every voice counts.

But in Jefferson City, the governor’s actions tell a very different story.

Redrawing Maps, Reducing Voices

Kehoe’s special legislative session includes a plan to redraw Missouri’s congressional districts mid-decade. The move is aimed at splitting Kansas City into three parts, dismantling Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s district and stripping Black Missourians of one of their only reliable voices in Congress. If successful, the GOP would control seven of the state’s eight U.S. House seats — 90% of Missouri’s delegation — in a state where Black citizens make up 12% of the population.

Cleaver himself called the plan what it is: an attempt to “silence voices” and “deny representation.”

Blocking Ballot Power

The session also takes aim at Missouri’s initiative petition process, the tool voters have used to pass Medicaid expansion, raise the minimum wage, and legalize marijuana when lawmakers refused. The proposed changes would require amendments to win a statewide majority and a majority in five of eight congressional districts. That rule would hand rural areas — overwhelmingly white and Republican — veto power over the more diverse, urban communities of Kansas City and St. Louis.

Analysts say as few as 23% of voters could block reforms under the plan.

The Long Shadow of Disenfranchisement

Missouri’s Black voters have heard promises like Kehoe’s before — words about democracy that crumble when it comes to real political power. From Reconstruction to Jim Crow to modern-day voter ID laws and gerrymanders, the story has been the same: Black political voices celebrated in rhetoric but suppressed in practice.

Kehoe’s naturalization ceremony remarks celebrated the right to vote. His policies in Jefferson City seek to weaken it. That contradiction is not just hypocrisy — it’s a betrayal of the very oath those new citizens took.

Democracy for All, or Democracy for Some?

If citizenship truly means that “voices, votes, and ideas” will shape our state, then Missouri’s leaders must defend fair maps and open access to the ballot, not manipulate them for partisan gain. Anything less reduces democracy to an empty performance.

For Missouri’s Black voters, the stakes could not be higher. The fight over congressional maps and ballot rights will determine whether their voices are strengthened — or silenced — for years to come.