The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected efforts backed by Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to use the state's newly drawn congressional map for the November election.
The justices said switching maps after ballots had already been distributed would create what they called "electoral chaos."
“We were trailblazing. This is a process that had never been played out before, especially in the public eye," Hoskins tells Missourinet. "They've never been really a referendum, at least in the last 100 years on a congressional redistricting map. And so someday there will be history books that are written about this and just the legal process that ensued.”
Hoskins says he was disappointed by last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that blocked the use of Missouri's Trump-backed congressional map for the November election. After President Trump publicly criticized the decision, Hoskins was asked whether the two had discussed the ruling.
“No, in fact, I know a lot of people have said, you just did this for President Trump. No, I did this because I think it was the right decision," Hoskins explains. "I was supporting our legislature as far as the 2025 map. I was supporting Governor Kehoe, who signed House Bill 1, the 2025 map, into effect.”
During that dispute, Hoskins was held in contempt by the Missouri Supreme Court over his efforts to implement the 2025 map, and he says that ruling was especially disappointing.
“I jokingly said I had a choice of either going to Cole County Jail or federal prison. But because of the Supremacy Clause, where if you had a conflicting state law and federal law, the federal law always trump's state law," Hoskins says. "And so ultimately, I was following the Supremacy Clause. I was very disappointed in the Missouri Supreme Court that they ruled me in contempt of court.”
Missouri voters will now cast their ballots using the congressional district boundaries first used in 2022 when they head to the polls on November 3rd.
Missourinet