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Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on Tuesday said he will block a citizens’ petition for a new redistricting referendum on the state’s redrawn GOP-led congressional map backed by President Trump.
“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, adding that the petition violated a constitutional prohibition against rolling multiple facets of the constitution into one amendment.
He separately told Spectrum News St. Louis that the “Missouri First” map is the “law of the land.”
Hoskins also declined to comment at the press conference about whether the petition had enough signatures.
“Whether they had one signature or 500 million signatures doesn’t really matter because they are unconstitutional,” he told reporters, according to the Missouri Independent.
The announcement lands on the last possible day for Hoskins to legally rule on whether measures submitted via petition can make it to the Nov. 3 ballot.
People Not Politicians Missouri, which filed the petition with more than 300,000 signatures in December, accused Hoskins of “making a last desperate attempt to silence the people’s voice in Missouri.” The group said it will file a lawsuit challenging Hoskins’s decision.
“Missourians will have the final say in November and the chance to vote no to politicians’ desperate power grabs,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday night.
Of the 300,000 signatures reviewed by local election officials for validity, more than 110,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot were found to be valid.
Missouri was the second Republican-led state after Texas to follow Trump’s request to red states to redraw their congressional maps in order to give the GOP a leg-up to keep control of Congress after the November midterm elections.
The redistricting battle in Missouri has been the most litigated in the country, launching over a dozen lawsuits over the last year.
Missouri Gov. Brian Kehoe (R) signed the “Missouri First” redistricted map into law last September, and it was upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court in May.
The new map is expected to favor Missouri state Sen. Rick Brattin (R) in the fall midterm race against Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), the former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, in the race for Missouri’s 5th Congressional District. The Missouri General Assembly redrew the state’s congressional map to make Cleaver’s district friendly to Republicans.
Democratic lawmakers have compared the redrawn congressional maps in red states to Jim Crow laws, saying these new maps will favor GOP voters disproportionately compared to Black voters.
A Republican has not represented the 5th district since before the Korean War.
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