‘Air Bud’ gets another life through Missouri redistricting : NPR

When I first read about how Texas Republicans were preparing to participate in mid-decade redistrictingI texted a Republican aide in state government, jokingly wondering if Missouri would join in on the fun.

It's no secret that my interest in Missouri redistricting borders on obsession. Part of my love for this subject stems from its importance. The lines and where they are drawn can determine which party has a better chance of winning a particular district. But I also have a lifelong interest in cartography, including almost winning a geography exam in high school and being able to talk to National Geographic cartographer when he went on a work trip with his father.

However, at the time I posted this message, I thought there was no way Missouri Republicans would return to drawing congressional maps in 2025, especially after 2022 redistricting sparkled bitter split in the Missouri legislature.

I was wrong.

Very wrong.

Missouri eventually became second GOP-led state after Texas To redraw the boundaries of Congress at the direction of President Trump. And the Missouri Republicans were candid in explaining their rationale: they wanted to overthrow Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City help prevent Republicans from losing control of the US House of Representatives in 2026.

And Missouri Republicans didn't just accept the new map: they violated all kinds of legal norms and precedents send it to Governor Mike Kehoe's desk.

But in pursuit of a short-term Republican victory in Washington, D.C., Missouri Republicans may have heralded the doom of the new map in at least two different ways.

EnterAir Bud

Opponents of redistricting have filed a variety of lawsuits, including a particularly important one questioning whether Missouri legislators are even allowed to do so. redraw congressional boundaries mid-decade. The case is still in its early stages, but the Missouri Supreme Court is expected to rule sometime next year.

On the surface, opponents of redistricting appear to have a strong case – a constitutional amendment they say allows Congress to redistrict only after the census. But Missouri Republicans appear to have a secret weapon to counter this claim: Air Bud Rule.

In the 1997 Walt Disney film, a judge allows Buddy the dog to play basketball because, after a frantic search in the rule book, “there is no rule that says a dog can't play basketball.”

Fast forward to 2025: Advocates of Missouri's redistricting plan have rallied around a similarly constructed argument: “There's nothing in the Missouri Constitution that tells legislators can't mid-decade redistricting.”

Air Bud analogy is a failure

When I first heard this argument, I began asking Missouri legislators if they had seen Air Bud.

Some, like Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, saw this and acknowledged that the GOP's defense of the map was essentially an Air Bud rule. (When Hoskins was a state senator, he successfully sponsored legislation. designation of two legendary dogsOld Drum and Jim the Wonder Dog as Missouri's Official Historic Dog and the State's Official Wonder Dog.)

“Other states have different processes for when they can reapportion congressional seats. But there's nothing in Missouri, in my opinion, that says we can't do it,” said GOP Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who then joked that the new map should be called the “Air Bud Provision” if the justices uphold it.

The analogy has gained popularity among those involved in redistricting.

State Democratic Representative Mark Boyko mocked Republicans by citing the Air Bud rule in the House. AND during altercations earlier this month in Jefferson City.Chuck Hatfield, a lawyer representing plaintiffs seeking to overturn Congress' new decisions, said in court this month: “We're not following the Air Bud rules in Missouri for a very good reason, but that's essentially what the state is arguing.”

“It's like my kids asking me, 'Can we have ice cream tonight?' And I say, tomorrow we’ll go for ice cream,” Boyko said. “And they say, 'Well, you didn't say we weren't going to have ice cream tonight, so we're going to have ice cream tonight, too.' No.”

Although Missouri Attorney General Katherine Hanaway never saw the movieIn an interview with me, she said that “there is no rule against a dog playing basketball” is “a good analogy” for the state's main argument.

“The Constitution says that redistricting must occur after the decennial census. It doesn't say that it should happen immediately after; that this should only happen once a decade; that this issue cannot be revisited,” Hanaway said. “I don't know what happened to Bud. I'm guessing he probably didn't play basketball since you're using that analogy. But I think our chances of winning are pretty good.”

When I told her that Buddy not only played basketball, but also football in the classic movie Air Bud: Gold receiver, Hanaway said, “Man, I missed a whole genre. I really need to catch up on this.”

Unexpected referendum

But the biggest threat to Missouri's redistricting plan may not be lawsuits.

One day, after the exhausting first week of the redistricting special session in September, I took a walk near my home in St. Louis. That's when the question popped into my head: If lawmakers succeeded in passing the map, would there be enough members of the Missouri House of Representatives for the map to take effect immediately? Otherwise, Republicans will not be able to escape the very active referendum process in Missouri.

As I got the kids ready for bed, I realized the answer was…no. The New Map Trump and Missouri Republicans Wanted So Badly may be subject to a statewide vote. If signature gatherers collect enough names before Dec. 11, the map would fail to take effect in the 2026 election cycle, defeating the entire purpose of the special session to redistrict.

My story for St. Louis Public Radio was published before members of the House of Representatives had finished approval in the first round of the redistricting bill. Lawmakers passed the map without much trouble anyway, even though voters could ultimately undo their work.

However, after the special session ended, it became clear that many legislators had no idea that the map could potentially be repealed through a statewide vote.

Opponents of the map are scouring the state for signatures to put the plan on the statewide ballot. State Rep. Bryant Wolfin said he was not aware the map could be on the statewide ballot. adding, “I guarantee most of the participants didn’t.”

It is unclear whether the Trump White House has realized that a new Missouri map could be on the ballot. Officials did not respond to requests for comment. But there is no doubt that the referendum caused a lot of excitement among dispirited Missouri Democrats who survived another unsuccessful election cycle in 2024.

“I don’t even like politics, okay? I just know we need transparency,” Jefferson City resident Freda Tucker told me in September. “We need to stop the power grab. We don't have to do this every three years, okay? Like, there’s something wrong here.”

So what have I learned from following this wild saga of Missouri redistricting?

First, it's important to pay attention to seemingly minor details, such as the vote count on a bill that was always expected to pass.

Any other takeaways? It might be worth revisiting the 1990s Disney films ahead of the redistricting cycle, because you never know when a one-off scene might inspire a legal theory that would sink or save a proposal being seen across the country.

Jason Rosenbaum is a political correspondent for St. Louis Public Radio.