Missouri Secretary of State Hoskins rejected sufficient-signature referendum on GOP congressional map as unconstitutional

On August 4, 2026 -- the statutory deadline for certifying measures for the November ballot -- Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a referendum petition brought by the PAC People Not Politicians seeking to let voters decide whether to repeal the state's new congressional map. Hoskins ruled that Missouri's constitution does not permit a referendum on redistricting laws at all, a theory no secretary of state had previously applied. The petition had gathered signatures exceeding the required threshold, but Hoskins said the count was irrelevant: "Whether they had one signature or 500 million signatures doesn't really matter because they are unconstitutional," he said, adding that "the referendum itself is null and void by virtue of the fact that it is unconstitutional." Hoskins simultaneously rejected a second, separate citizen petition, Respect Missouri Voters, on different procedural grounds unrelated to the redistricting theory. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued an opinion backing Hoskins's position, arguing the state constitution "includes no such clear statement" authorizing a referendum on redistricting.

Missouri's constitution has permitted voters to refer legislative acts to a popular vote for more than a century, and the map Hoskins shielded from that process was itself drawn during a September 2025 special session called at President Trump's request, dividing the Kansas City-area district held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in an attempt to shift the state's U.S. House delegation from six Republican seats to seven. If a court ultimately reverses Hoskins's ruling, new elections could be required in as many as six of Missouri's eight congressional districts before November.

Updates

2026-08-05 — People Not Politicians sued Hoskins in Cole County [3, 4]

People Not Politicians filed suit against Hoskins in Cole County Circuit Court within about two hours of his announcement, seeking to force the referendum onto the November ballot. Executive director Richard von Glahn called the rejection "a last desperate attempt to silence the people's voice."

2026-08-14 — RNC lawyer joined the case defending Hoskins; Gov. Kehoe endorsed the rejection [5]

A Republican National Committee lawyer joined the litigation to argue the state's position, a development critics characterized as outside political influence on the process. Gov. Mike Kehoe publicly endorsed Hoskins's rejection, saying Hoskins "spent a lot of time with a lot of people who understand what this means for our constitution."

2026-08-18 — Records showed petitions had enough signatures despite partial ruling [6, 7]

Data Hoskins's own office had provided, examined by Missouri Independent, showed both rejected petitions had gathered enough signatures to qualify even after Cole County Judge Christopher Limbaugh ruled that day that roughly 103,000 signatures collected before the petition forms were formally approved for circulation could not count. People Not Politicians filed a notice of appeal of that ruling with the Western District Court of Appeals.

2026-08-19 — Cole County judge upheld Hoskins's rejection; new map to be used in November [8]

Following an expedited trial, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled that Missouri's constitution does not authorize a referendum on congressional redistricting, upholding Hoskins's rejection on the merits and clearing the new congressional map to be used in the November 2026 election. "The Missouri Constitution does not supply any statement -- let alone a clear one -- reallocating authority over congressional redistricting away from the General Assembly to a referendum process," Green wrote. People Not Politicians immediately announced an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, with executive director Richard von Glahn saying "everyone knows that Cole County is not the final decision here."

2026-09-03 — Missouri Supreme Court reversed, ordered the referendum onto the ballot as Proposition A and blocked the new map's use in November [9, 10]

The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously reversed Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green's ruling, holding that Hoskins's rejection of the referendum was wrong and ordering the referendum onto the November ballot as Proposition A. The court's order also blocked use of the new, GOP-drawn congressional districts in the November 3 general election, ruling the map legislation had never been legally in effect even though it had already been used for the August 4 primary -- requiring Missouri to instead use the districts in place for the 2022 and 2024 elections.

2026-09-04 — Missouri Supreme Court denied Hoskins's request to stay that order [9]

Hoskins asked the court to pause its September 3 order -- not the referendum's placement on the ballot, but specifically the requirement to revert to the prior congressional map -- to allow an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing reverting maps was "technically impossible" and disenfranchised the 1.2 million voters who had already participated in the August 4 primary under the new map. Two county clerks, one Democrat and one Republican, countered in a filing that the switch required only changing which map was controlling in the state's voter database. The Missouri Supreme Court denied the stay request without comment; as of the denial, no emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court had yet been filed.

2026-09-05 — Missouri Republicans appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the new map in place [11, 12]

Missouri Solicitor General Lou Capozzi, on behalf of Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, filed an emergency application asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the Missouri Supreme Court's September 3 order and let the new congressional map be used for the November 3 general election. The application, filed with Justice Brett Kavanaugh as circuit justice, conceded the referendum itself will appear on the ballot regardless of the outcome and asked only that the new map control the November election, arguing reverting to the prior map would violate the Elections Clause and disenfranchise voters who had already cast primary ballots under the new districts. Kavanaugh set a noon Monday deadline for People Not Politicians to respond; a looming ballot-printing deadline leaves little room for the appeal to be resolved before ballots must be finalized.

2026-09-08 — Kavanaugh denied GOP map bid; a federal judge issued a conflicting order hours later [13, 14]

Justice Kavanaugh rejected Missouri Republican officials' emergency application without referring it to the full Court or explaining his decision, leaving the Missouri Supreme Court's September 3 order — reverting to the pre-2025 map for November — in place. Hours later, in a separate federal lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Bob Onder and others, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a 14-day temporary restraining order requiring Missouri to use the 2025 Republican-drawn map instead, creating dueling state and federal orders. Attorney General Hanaway said the state would comply with Clark's order; attorneys for People Not Politicians, including Chuck Hatfield and Abha Khanna, said the conflict left local election officials unsure which map controlled. The Proposition A referendum remains on the November 3 ballot regardless of which map is used for the election itself.