USA04 August, 20263 min read
Denny Hoskins Rejects People Not Politicians Referendum On Trump-Backed Missouri Congressional Map
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Hoskins blocked the citizen referendum on Missouri's GOP-drawn congressional map. He deemed the referendum legally insufficient and unconstitutional for a public vote.
8 outlets told this the same way.
Hoskins blocks referendum
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a citizens’ petition seeking a statewide referendum on new congressional districts backed by President Donald Trump, asserting the petition is unconstitutional because congressional redistricting plans cannot be subject to voter referendums.
Hoskins said Tuesday that “challenging a congressional map is unconstitutional under Missouri law,” and he declined to certify more than 300,000 signatures aimed at forcing a referendum on the Republican-led map.
Supporters of the referendum, including People Not Politicians, said they would challenge Hoskins’ decision in court, after Missouri election officials had approved well more than the roughly 111,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.
The new map being used in Tuesday’s primaries dramatically reshapes the Kansas City-based 5th Congressional District held by longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver by stretching it into rural central Missouri to give it a Republican tilt.
NBC News reported that Hoskins said the referendum was unconstitutional and that “a referendum on a congressional redistricting map is not constitutional,” while People Not Politicians said it planned to sue over his move.
Court fight and quotes
People Not Politicians Missouri executive director Richard von Glahn said Hoskins was “making a last desperate attempt to silence the people’s voice in Missouri,” while asserting there were more than enough signatures to qualify the referendum for the ballot. In Jefferson City, Hoskins declared “The Missouri First Map continues to be the law of the land,” and he said the Missouri Constitution does not expressly give voters the right to hold a referendum on congressional redistricting. Hoskins refused to answer multiple questions about whether the campaign had turned in enough valid signatures, but the Kansas City Star reported preliminary data posted on the secretary of state’s website showed the campaign had turned in well above the required number.
Democracy Docket reported that Hoskins said the challenge was insufficient because, in his view, “the referendum itself is null and void by virtue of the fact that it is unconstitutional,” and it said he invoked the Election Clause to argue the General Assembly’s authority over redistricting cannot be stripped away. Al Jazeera framed the Missouri primary as the first held under the newly redrawn congressional map, with the Democratic primary rematch between Representative Wesley Bell and former Representative Cori Bush described as a proxy battle over Gaza and AIPAC.
What’s at stake next
The decision to block the referendum puts the vote in jeopardy, with the Kansas City Star saying Hoskins’ move is not final and is virtually certain to spark a heated legal battle.
CNN reported that if Hoskins is wrong and a court orders him to place the redistricting referendum on the ballot, it is unclear what that means for the 2026 elections, including whether candidates who win Tuesday’s primaries could continue running in November while voters decide whether the districts can be used.
STLPR said the Missouri Supreme Court would have until Sept. 8 to decide whether to order the referendum on the ballot, and it described the possibility of chaotic outcomes if the map was never in effect for the primary election.
STLPR also said the new map made no changes to the 7th and 8th districts, and it raised timing concerns about election officials certifying results and the statutory deadline for reviewing the referendum’s signatures.
Al Jazeera’s preview of Tuesday’s primaries also tied Missouri’s contests to the broader battle for control of the US Congress, noting that Democrats need to flip four Senate seats and three House of Representatives seats to regain the majority.