Thursday’s ruling found Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt for ordering local officials to use Missouri’s 2025 congressional map, then said he purged that contempt by directing them hours later to use the 2022 map.
The court said Hoskins violated its Sept. 3 order by treating a 14-day federal restraining order as overriding a state mandate, when he could have told election officials to pause until the conflict was resolved.
A U.S. Supreme Court stay issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh removed the last barrier to switching back, and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said no path currently remains to revive the Republican-backed map for November.
Missouri’s Nov. 3 election will now proceed under the older districts, while voters also decide Proposition A on whether to keep or reject the 2025 map that Republicans hoped would flip the 5th District.
With military ballot deadlines looming, how can local officials avoid election chaos while trapped between clashing judicial orders?
Missouri’s 2026 Redistricting Crisis: Courtroom Standoff, Dueling Maps, and the Future of Citizen Referenda
Overview
Missouri’s 2026 redistricting crisis began when state Republicans, under pressure from Donald Trump, pushed through a new congressional map (HB 1) to secure a 7-1 GOP advantage. In response, the People Not Politicians coalition launched a citizen referendum, gathering over 305,000 signatures, which legally suspended the new map. However, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins delayed certifying the petition, leading to the August primary being held under the disputed map. After the Missouri Supreme Court ruled the referendum valid and blocked the new map, conflicting state and federal court orders left local election officials in chaos, with Hoskins facing contempt proceedings for defying the state court’s injunction.