Missouri Democrats’ Effort To Block Gop Gerrymander Picks Up Steam

Democrats in Missouri looking to block the state’s new congressional districts hit a key deadline on Tuesday, organizers say, getting a step closer to freezing the map drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature to create an additional GOP-leaning district in the 2026 midterms.

People Not Politicians, the committee organizing to block the new map, said it submitted over 305,000 signatures to Missouri's Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on Tuesday, more than double the 107,000 valid signatures needed to trigger a referendum process that could put the map in front of voters next year.

Hoskins’ office will now process the signatures and distribute them to local elections offices for verification.

The petition puts into jeopardy Missouri Republicans’ attempt to eliminate the Democratic-leaning Kansas City district currently held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver — part of a larger push by President Donald Trump to tilt the odds in his favor of retaining control of the House in next year’s midterms.

“Missouri voters are going to be the final deciders on this issue,” said Richard von Glahn, executive director for People Not Politicians. “Our democracy belongs to us, not to politicians, and we're going to have the final say.”

Should the signatures eventually be validated, the map cannot be used until Missouri voters get a chance to vote on the referendum, potentially freezing it before November. If Missourians approve the measure, the new map will be tossed in its entirety.

Von Glahn said he’s confident his group submitted enough valid signatures to force a referendum, despite Hoskins’ attempt to throw out thousands of signatures collected before Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the new map into law.

In a hearing over the lawsuit filed by People Not Politicians to reverse Hoskins’ decision, state elections director Chrissy Peters said the state would not verify signatures collected before October 14th unless ordered to do so by a judge — potentially invalidating any signatures collected before then dating back to mid-September, when Missouri Democrats first began petitioning.

Democrats also scored a big win ahead of their signature submission on Monday, when a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway seeking to block a referendum of the state’s congressional maps.

District Judge Zachary Bluestone, a Trump appointee, said in his ruling he did not have the authority to determine the constitutionality of a referendum before Hoskins made a decision on People Not Politicians’ petition. When asked during a press conference on Tuesday if he felt Bluestone was “inviting” Hoskins to rule the referendum petition unconstitutional, von Glahn said the group is prepared for future legal battles on the issue.

“The federal case was an extreme measure of the attorney general, in this case, suing an individual resident of the state, as well as our campaign for exercising both First Amendment and Missouri constitutional rights, and that case was properly dismissed,” von Glahn said. “If we need to continue to litigate to enforce our constitutional rights, we will.”

Under Missouri law, Hoskins has until July to process the signatures and determine if People Not Politicians’ petition is valid.

But the timing of when that determination is made could have major ramifications for Missouri’s midterm elections. The window for candidates to file for congressional primaries opens on February 24th — but if the state’s maps aren’t verified before it closes at the end of March, candidates may be forced to file to run in districts without a clear sense of what those districts will look like in November.

Still, it is not clear that the efforts to stop the map ahead of next November will be successful, even if the signatures hold up. Should the referendum be validated, Missouri’s Legislature will then need to schedule a date for the ballot measure election. The Republican-controlled Legislature will likely push to hold the election before November, organizers believe, to allow their preferred maps to be implemented before the midterms.

Von Glahn said on Tuesday he hopes the referendum election is held on election day next November.

“That's probably when the most people will be out voting and we want as many people to have a say on this as possible,” he said.