What is “Jackxit?” Jackson County could be the first Missouri county to be split in 150 years

Jackson County has two courthouses — one in downtown Kansas City, and one in Independence. Most major county operations are based in the downtown courthouse, but some services still operate in Independence. (Josh Merchant/The Beacon)

In Jackson County, 2025 was a year for the books.

Last January kicked off a budget crisis that lasted for the first four months of the year. It was followed by a landslide recall of County Executive Frank White Jr. in September. And in December, the Kansas City Chiefs announced they would be leaving Arrowhead Stadium for Kansas.

Now, some residents of eastern Jackson County say they want to get off the crazy train and strike out on their own.

Rep. Mike Steinmeyer, a Republican from Sugar Creek, has proposed in the Missouri General Assembly a state constitutional amendment that would separate Kansas City and Jackson County. In a nod to Great Britain’s exit from the European Union, some supporters have dubbed it “Jackxit.”

“This is about how the county has treated the people that they are supposed to serve,” Steinmeyer told The Beacon. “Jackson County is the greatest example in the state of a broken government, and it’s time to be fixed.”

Jackson County’s Interim County Executive Phil LeVota, who replaced White following the recall vote, does not believe this proposal is realistic.

“I’m an eastern Jackson County guy, so I’ve felt that in my career too — I’m not getting enough representation,” he said. “It’s something that’s always talked about, and when you get into the details, it just is too overwhelming, and the city and the county are too intertwined.”

What is “Jackxit?”

If signed into law, the bill would put a question on the Missouri ballot every 10 years asking voters across the state whether to split the county in two.

Even if Jackson County voters ultimately say “no,” a majority of voters in the state could force the county to split nonetheless.

Once approved, the city and the county would form a transition committee to figure out the logistical details of how to divide the county’s assets and services.

The committee would then present the plan to be approved both by Kansas City voters and by eastern Jackson County voters.

If they reject the plan, the committee would have to keep drawing up new plans and present them every year until voters approve.

Once that plan is approved, the actual work would begin. In essence, eastern Jackson County and Kansas City would have to create a government from the ground up.

It would be the first time in 150 years that a new county was created in the state of Missouri. The most recent was the so-called “Great Divorce” that split St. Louis city and St. Louis County in 1876. St. Louis still operates as an independent city in no county.

The proposed fragmentation of Jackson County bucks a stronger national trend of cities consolidating with counties.

Locally, Kansas City, Kansas, merged with Wyandotte County nearly 30 years ago to form the Unified Government. Other recent mergers include Indianapolis and Marion County in Indiana in 1970, and Louisville and Jefferson County in Kentucky in 2003. In Florida, Tallahassee voters will be asked whether to merge with Leon County later this year.

At this time, the bill makes no mention of Clay or Platte counties, which contain roughly one-third of Kansas City’s population. As written, the proposed amendment would leave those portions of Kansas City within their respective counties.

“What’s interesting is that we may have to amend it even further,” Steinmeyer said, “because Kansas City has ZIP codes in four different counties — Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass. And these other counties are saying, ‘You know what, don’t exclude us.’”

But some officials in Clay and Platte counties aren’t convinced that it would be the right move.

“I don’t see a compelling reason why that would make sense for Clay County,” said Scott Wagner, Clay County’s western commissioner.

Similarly, Scott Fricker, the presiding commissioner in Platte County, told The Beacon in a text, “I don’t think there’s much appetite here in Platte County for something like that.”

The argument for a split

Steinmeyer believes that for too long, Kansas City has dominated the politics and government of Jackson County, at the expense of his constituents in eastern portions of the county.

Part of it is a financial argument.

Steinmeyer said that eastern Jackson County pays the majority of taxes the county collects, but doesn’t get that money back in the form of county services.

(The Beacon was unable to verify this and was told by some local officials that an exact calculation of which cities receive what value of services would be mathematically complicated.)

But he also said that Kansas City fundamentally has a different set of needs than eastern Jackson County.

“We can spend hundreds of millions of dollars to add a mile to the streetcar,” he said. “How does that benefit somebody that’s out almost to Lafayette County?”

That reasoning is echoed by other local officials, like Raytown Alderman Greg Walters.

“The needs are different in a large commercial area, which Kansas City pretty much is,” Walters said, “as opposed to the (cities) going to the east, which are smaller, more divided. I think it would help, particularly with our roads, keeping them up to date, which is a problem in every suburb in Missouri, particularly east of Kansas City.”

Walters also thinks this would update the county now that the eastern half of the county has grown faster than Kansas City. Fewer than half of all Jackson County residents now live in Kansas City.

Republican Sean Smith, who represents a district including Lee’s Summit on the Jackson County Legislature, would not say whether he supports or opposes the bill.

“It’s a reflection of frustration on the part of some Jackson County residents,” he said, “who feel like Kansas City has too much influence over Jackson County politics.”

The mayors of Lee’s Summit and Grandview declined to comment.

Real concerns but wrong solution

Others, like Rep. Kemp Strickler, a Democrat from Lee’s Summit, acknowledge the divide across the county but nonetheless opposes the measure.

“The administrative challenges of a (split) of that kind are substantial,” he said. “What is challenging is that it means duplication of many services, so we have to make sure that we have separate tax collection systems. We have to make sure we have separate jails.”

He said some of his constituents certainly feel that the county could do a better job of responding to their needs — particularly on the issue of property taxes.

But that sentiment — which he said is “legitimate frustration” — is shared across the county, including in Kansas City.

While the eastern portions of the county tend to vote more Republican than Kansas City, the county was united in its recall of White, its approval of the ballot question to make the county assessor an elected position in 2025 and the rejection of the stadium sales tax in 2024.

And so when it comes to this measure, Strickler thinks it has much more to do with partisan politics than local issues.

“It feels like a partisan ploy by Republicans who are not able to elect Republican leaders inside Jackson County,” he said. “There’s not going to be a Republican Jackson County executive. And so they don’t have the influence and power.”

Rep. Aaron Crossley, a Democrat from Independence, also opposes the measure.

“Separating Kansas City from Jackson County creates a whole new government that would mean more bureaucracy and more spending,” he said in a text to The Beacon. “So I don’t support it.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but previously said he opposed the measure.

At the same time, local officials acknowledged that the county should do more to make sure it’s delivering for eastern Jackson County.

LeVota said Jackson County has taken steps over the past few months to rebuild trust with residents in all parts of the county.

“I think it boils down to you have to have better elected officials in Jackson County,” he said, “to restore the confidence people need from Jackson County.”

And to address the issues across the county, Strickler said discussions need to remain at the local level.

“That does seem like something that should be discussed at a county level,” he said, “versus going to all the voters of the state of Missouri to vote on it.”

Can it pass?

The measure to split Jackson County is just one of 2,000 bills that were filed in the Missouri General Assembly leading up to its 2026 session. But only a fraction of them will be referred to committee for a hearing.

Steinmeyer said he has been told that his bill will be one of those lucky few.

But state and local officials think the biggest hurdle will be the Missouri Senate.

Speaker of the House Jon Patterson is a Republican from eastern Jackson County, which explains why this bill was made a priority for a hearing. He has announced that he will be running for Senate District 8 this fall, which covers Lee’s Summit and Blue Springs.

“Someone would have to invest a whole lot of political capital to get it through the Senate,” Strickler said. “Why would they do that, given the other issues that the (Kehoe) administration is trying to push?”

Steinmeyer said his priority is to get it through the House before worrying about the Senate. And if legislators oppose putting the proposed amendment to a statewide vote, he believes they’re effectively silencing the voters.

“Who’s going to decide the outcome? Ultimately, it’s going to be the voters,” he said. “If elected officials want to silence the voice of the voters, I want them on record. I want them to go out there and say that.”

This article first appeared on Beacon: Kansas City and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.