Missouri's democracy got stress-tested

By Jason Hancock | Editor-in-Chief

Good morning,

Democracy is messy.

Not messy in the gauzy, Aaron Sorkin sense, where everyone argues earnestly, shakes hands and heads home satisfied. Messy like Missouri was this week: contradictory court orders, emergency appeals, election officials staring at a calendar and a secretary of state summoned before the state Supreme Court to explain himself.

The entire system seemed to be arguing with itself.

Then Thursday happened.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a federal judge's order requiring Missouri to use the gerrymandered congressional map lawmakers passed last year. That restored the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling that the 2022 districts stay in place while voters decide the new map's fate.

Hours later, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins stood before the Missouri Supreme Court, where judges found him in contempt for directing local officials to use the 2025 map despite the court’s order. By then Hoskins had reversed course and told everyone to use the old map. The court said that purged the contempt.

So there you go.

Just don’t mistake Thursday’s outcome for evidence that this was simply democracy generating its normal amount of smoke and noise.

Months of delay helped create the emergency everyone spent this week trying to resolve. The Missouri Supreme Court said as much last week, writing that Hoskins' delay created the “confusion, expense and practical difficulties” he later complained about.

That isn't democracy functioning smoothly.

It’s democracy functioning under stress.

But after one of the strangest weeks Missouri politics has produced in years, the congressional election is set to be held under the old map and voters will get the final say in November on whether the new one ever takes effect.

by Jason Hancock

After the ruling, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins released a statement saying his office is “directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.”

by Rudi Keller

The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday found Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt for directing local election officials to use an illegal congressional map.

by Rudi Keller

Republicans still lead key election matchups, but their margins have narrowed sharply heading into November.

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