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Missouri fights its voters over new Trump-backed gerrymander



Republicans’ efforts to rig the 2026 midterm elections by gerrymandering House
maps hit a potential snag in Missouri on Tuesday, when organizers submitted
hundreds of thousands of petition signatures calling for a referendum on the
state’s new, GOP-skewed map.

The new map, passed in September, seeks to flip control of a Democratic-held
House district in the Kansas City area, likely handing Republicans seven of the
state’s eight seats. Given how plainly undemocratic that is, organizers sought
to put the map before the voters, and on Tuesday, they delivered over 300,000
signatures to the secretary of state’s office, almost three times the required
number to trigger a statewide vote.

But they face an uphill battle thanks to GOP officials who will do anything
to block voters from getting their say in the matter.

According to the Missouri Constitution, new districts drawn by the state
legislature cannot take effect while a referendum is pending. In theory, the
future of the state’s new extra-gerrymandered map would be decided at the
ballot box, which is as direct as democracy gets. But the Missouri GOP isn’t
interested in democracy. It’s interested in pleasing President Donald Trump, so
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is preparing to break precedent and allow the
map to go into effect on Thursday, petition signatures be damned.




 



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On top of that, Hoskins gets to decide how many of those 300,000 signatures
are real and legal. If he can throw out enough of them to get below that
110,000 threshold, it kills the referendum. He’s already said he won’t accept
roughly 90,000 signatures, which were collected shortly before he certified
paperwork related to the referendum.

Hoskins has also tried to screw with the ballot language, trying to trick
people to vote in favor of the Trump-backed map: “Do the people of the state of
Missouri approve the act of the General Assembly entitled ‘House Bill No. 1
(2025 Second Extraordinary Session),’ which repeals Missouri’s existing
gerrymandered congressional plan that protects incumbent politicians, and
replaces it with new congressional boundaries that keep more cities and
counties intact, are more compact, and better reflects statewide voting
patterns?”

Come on, man. The new map is even more divorced from “statewide voting
patterns.” In the past three presidential elections, Missouri has given about
40% of its vote to the Democratic candidate, but under this new map, Democrats
would likely win only 13% of the state’s House districts (one out of eight).
The new map functions to buy the GOP one more safe House seat, not to “keep
more cities and counties intact.”

Hoskins and the Missouri General Assembly also tried to sue People Not
Politicians, the group helming the referendum effort. They trotted out the
argument that the U.S. Constitution prohibits referendums for congressional
districts. That case got tossed on Monday by Judge Zachary Bluestone, a recent
Trump appointee, but only because he found that the case was not ripe for
adjudication, meaning that there is not yet something for the court to decide.
But he dismissed it without prejudice, meaning that Hoskins and the Assembly
could refile it.

Bluestone also helpfully reminded Hoskins that he doesn’t need a court case
since he has the authority to declare the referendum question unconstitutional
all by himself and get rid of it that way.

But wait, there’s more!





 



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GOP operatives appear to have tried to pay people to quit gathering
signatures, according to a lawsuit filed by Advanced Micro Targeting, a company
working with People Not Politicians to gather signatures. People were allegedly
offered up to $30,000 to stop gathering signatures.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway also lent a hand here, going on X
to claim without evidence that Advanced Micro Targeting was “reportedly
employing illegal aliens” and referred it to Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. She also essentially accused the firm of human trafficking,
because why not?

Hanaway is issuing a civil investigative demand to Advanced Micro Targeting
based on her imaginary belief that the firm is riddled with undocumented
workers. In effect, she’s demanding it give her worker names, payroll info,
hiring documents, training materials, and immigration paperwork, including “the
fronts and backs” of any identity documents. Does she provide any support for
her allegations? No. No, she does not.

All of these people are right to be running scared. Missouri voters love
referendums. Of the 27 referendums that have appeared on the ballot, voters
backed 25. One of those, back in 1922, overturned a congressional map.

The GOP will do its damnedest to prevent Missouri voters from voting. But the
campaigns will keep pushing, the people of Missouri will keep pushing, and
while GOP elected officials might eventually kill this particular referendum,
they can’t contain the fury people have over this.

Click here to check out this story on DailyKos.com.
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