Missouri Secretary of State Rejects Referendum Petition on New Congressional Map; Opponents File Suit
The Facts
- Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, announced Tuesday, Aug. 4, that he would not certify a referendum petition on the state's new congressional map, calling the petition unconstitutional.
- Hoskins said the number of signatures submitted did not matter to his determination, because in his view challenging a congressional map through a referendum is not permitted under the Missouri Constitution.
- The petition was filed by the group People Not Politicians, which submitted more than 300,000 signatures in December 2025.
- The announcement came on the day of Missouri's primary election, hours before a 5 p.m. deadline that was the last date Hoskins could legally rule on the petition's sufficiency.
- People Not Politicians sued Hoskins in Cole County Circuit Court on Tuesday night, asking a judge to reverse his decision, declare the referendum legally sufficient and block use of the new districts while the case is pending.
- The map, nicknamed the 'Missouri First' map and enacted as House Bill 1, was passed by the Republican-led legislature in 2025 and signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe in September 2025; it divides the Kansas City-area 5th District held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.
- With the referendum blocked, the new map is expected to be used in the November 2026 midterm elections, which multiple outlets report makes a Republican win in Cleaver's district likely.
- The redistricting was part of a broader push by President Donald Trump for Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps.
- Preliminary records released by Hoskins' office indicated the petition had gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot, and Hoskins declined at his press conference to answer reporters' questions about the signature total.
Context
What legal question is now before the courts?
The dispute is whether Missouri's referendum process can be used to challenge a congressional redistricting bill. Hoskins contends the Missouri and U.S. constitutions prohibit subjecting a redistricting bill to a referendum Kansas City Star,Talking Points Memo. People Not Politicians calls that argument meritless and has asked Cole County Circuit Court to reverse him, certify the petition and prevent the new districts from being used while the case proceeds Kansas City Star,KMBC 9. Opponents have also signaled they will ask judges to place the referendum on the November ballot and to revert to the previous map for the general election NYT,KCUR 89.3 - NPR in ….
Who is directly affected by the decision?
Voters in the Kansas City area are most immediately affected: the new map splits the 5th District, long held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, into three parts, with one dividing line running along Troost Avenue in Kansas City KMBC 9,KMBC 9. Thousands of Missourians voted in a different congressional district in the Aug. 4 primary than they did in 2024 KMBC 9. Outlets report that leaving the map in place makes Republican control of that seat likely and factors into the party's efforts to hold its narrow U.S. House majority POLITICO,NewsMax,Washington Examiner.
How does Missouri's referendum process normally work?
Missouri law allows voters to block legislation if organizers gather enough valid signatures on a petition and then win a subsequent statewide vote Talking Points Memo,Talking Points Memo. In this case, local election authorities spent hundreds of hours verifying the signatures submitted in December, and the secretary of state was required to announce a sufficiency determination by the Aug. 4 deadline Springfield News-Le…,KMBC 9.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Hoskins rested his refusal entirely on whether Missouri's constitution permits a referendum on a congressional map, making the 300,000 signatures irrelevant by his own account — and leaving a Cole County judge to settle it.
- Where Left and Right split
- Voters losing their only route to contest lines they're already voting under, or redistricting being a power the constitution assigns to the legislature.
How left and right read it
More than 300,000 Missourians signed a petition in December 2025 to put the new congressional map to a vote, and Hoskins declared the signature count irrelevant — announcing it on primary day, hours before the last moment he could legally rule. Voters were already casting ballots under those lines. When a map drawn by the legislature that splits Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City district can't be challenged at the ballot box, what avenue is left?
“Missouri primary voters are already voting under the new lines in Tuesday's primaries despite a flurry of lawsuits around the gerrymander.” — POLITICO
Hoskins declined to certify the referendum petition, holding that Missouri's constitution does not permit a congressional map to be challenged that way; the signature total, he said, was beside the point. Redistricting was handed to the elected legislature that passed House Bill 1 and the governor who signed it, and a Cole County judge is now asked to shelve those districts anyway. Text governs, not preference.
“Hoskins's rejection allows the map to be used in the 2026 midterm elections, almost guaranteeing the Kansas City-area seat long held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) will be won by a Republican.” — Washington Examiner
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