Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins announced Tuesday that he will not certify a citizens' petition seeking a voter referendum on the state's newly redrawn congressional map, a plan backed by former President Trump and signed into law by Governor Brian Kehoe. Hoskins declared the petition "null and void" because it violates a constitutional prohibition on bundling multiple constitutional changes into a single amendment.
"At issue is not the number of signatures turned in to challenge the new congressional map, but the fact that the referendum itself is null and void by virtue of the fact that it is unconstitutional," Hoskins said at a press conference Tuesday night. He added that the petition improperly combined several distinct constitutional provisions into one measure.
Hoskins also told Spectrum News St. Louis that the "Missouri First" map is "the law of the land." He declined to comment on whether the petition had gathered enough valid signatures, saying, "Whether they had one signature or 500 million signatures doesn't really matter because they are unconstitutional," as reported by the Missouri Independent.
The decision came on the final day Hoskins could legally rule on whether the measure could appear on the November 3 ballot. The group behind the petition, People Not Politicians Missouri, submitted more than 300,000 signatures in December, with over 110,000 verified as valid by local election officials—enough to qualify under state law.
In a statement, the group accused Hoskins of "making a last desperate attempt to silence the people's voice in Missouri" and vowed to file a lawsuit challenging the decision. "Missourians will have the final say in November and the chance to vote no to politicians' desperate power grabs," the organization said.
Missouri was the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to heed Trump's call for red states to redraw congressional boundaries to give the GOP an advantage in the upcoming midterms. The redistricting fight in Missouri has been the most litigated in the nation, with over a dozen lawsuits filed in the past year.
The new map, upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court in May, is expected to favor Republican state Senator Rick Brattin in his race against Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver, the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, in Missouri's 5th Congressional District. The district was redrawn to be more Republican-friendly, a move Democratic lawmakers have compared to Jim Crow laws, arguing it disproportionately dilutes Black voters' influence.
A Republican has not represented the 5th District since before the Korean War, making the upcoming contest a significant political test. The decision to block the referendum is likely to intensify the legal and political battle over the state's congressional map, with implications for control of the U.S. House.
