Missouri House speaker designee affirms support for redistricting, initiative petition reform

The speaker designee of the Missouri House of Representatives reiterated his support for redistricting and initiative petition reform efforts passed in the recent special session during a live interview yesterday with Springfield Business Journal.

State Rep. Alex Riley, R-Springfield, was interviewed by SBJ Executive Editor Christine Temple for the 12 People You Need to Know series held at The Backlot, Alamo Drafthouse Springfield's restaurant and bar. Riley, who is currently the House's majority floor leader, is set to become speaker in 2027 after being elected to that role by his Republican peers earlier this month. 

During the Sept. 3-12 special session, the Missouri General Assembly approved congressional redistricting and initiative petition legislation. Initiative petition reform is headed to voters in 2026 for a decision, likely on the August ballot per Riley, and the redistricting legislation already has faced litigation, according to multiple media reports.

Riley said yesterday that he believes the Missouri Constitution allows for redistricting to occur. He said redistricting is required every 10 years in Missouri, which lines up with new Census counts, but that there is no rule indicating it cannot be done more often.

"I would be surprised if they strike down the map for that reason, because I don't think the constitution prohibits it," he said. "In fact, you do see other states around the country that do it more often than every 10 years.

"It is unusual, but it's not like the first time this has ever happened in the history of the republic."

Riley characterized Missouri's redistricting work as a balance amid efforts by other states.

"For us to have the representation that we want in Washington, D.C., it made sense to go ahead and make that adjustment to our congressional map," he said.

Riley also pushed back on a question from Temple on whether Missouri legislators had a choice in the redistricting issue amid what some have called an edict from the Trump administration.

"I would never say that we never had a choice. I think that that's not an accurate statement," he said. "Yes, we understood that there would be some challenges without question from D.C. if we didn't do it. But ... we made the decision based on what we thought was best for the state. That's true; that is an honest statement."

Speaking on the other top issue in the recent legislative session, Riley said initiative petition reform is needed in Missouri. With the current structure, Riley said the state's constitution is too easy to change via "hyper-partisan interests from both sides of the aisle."

"As you all know, the federal Constitution is very small. You can carry it in your pocket if you want to. The Missouri Constitution is a book, like a literal book. It is massive," he said. "We don't think that that's appropriate for the constitution. It's not supposed to have hyper-partisan things in there from either side. That's not how the U.S. Constitution works. That's not how most other states are. It shouldn't be how Missouri is."

Political discourse
Asked about political discourse in the wake of recent politically motivated killings, Riley said, "We need to get back to having robust conversations and winning the battle of ideas and letting decisions be made at the ballot box, not through force and violence."

Riley said, "Yes, there are certain things that we do disagree on heavily, and Republicans and Democrats just have totally different worldviews, and we're not going to ever see certain issues the same way. And that's OK. I don't have a problem with that, but we don't need to be so violent that it's actually taking each other's lives, which seems to be where we're at right now."

Riley cited two recent examples where his home and family in Springfield were targeted by what he characterized as both left-leaning and right-leaning groups.

"Not two months ago, I had people in my yard and on my roof trying to get into my house," he said. "It is a very real thing, and it is something that we live with every day. You take steps to try and protect yourself, but at the end of the day, there's only so much you can do."