Denny Hoskins

I have been following the political machine in Missouri for several years now. Sort of like looking at a bad accident on the freeway. It has to be one of the most contentious battlegrounds in the nation in terms of the culture war. Fascinating, in a way.

And it is obvious that the conservatives that run the show there have no use for democracy and the people's voice.

It all started in 2024 when voters approved Amendment 3, which provided for a state constitutional right to reproductive freedom, which was defined to include abortion. The measure won by 51.8%.

This sent the powers that be, including the Governor and Senator Hawley, into a tizzy. The poor people of Missouri were obviously being swayed by dark, venal, out of state interests.

Been a bit of a roller coaster since then.

On December 20, 2024, Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang ruled Missouri's total abortion ban, 18-week ban, 14-week ban, eight-week ban, and "reasons ban," were unconstitutional and unenforceable by the courts. Judge Zhang also struck down other laws, including the 72-hour waiting period, mandatory informed consent requirements, the requirement that physicians be physically present while the patient takes the medication to induce an abortion, and criminal penalties associated with abortion bans.[2]

On February 14, 2025, a Jackson County Circuit Court judge blocked further restrictions that prevented abortion clinics from operating, which included a facility licensing requirement, which restored abortion access in the state. The lawsuit was brought forward by two Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri.[3]

On May 27, 2025, the Missouri Supreme Court reinstated the state's abortion ban by overturning the lower court rulings. The court determined that the lower court had applied incorrect legal standards in its decisions and ordered a reevaluation of the case.

The legislature tried something new then. New referendums would require 80% of the people, not merely a majority and they would have to have a majority in every congressional district in the state.

This was a radical reshuffling, Missourians had been using the referendum process for over a century, in fact over 424 times since 1908.

In August 2026, the Republicans came up with Amendment 4, requiring voter approval of citizen-initiated constitutional amendments in each congressional district, rather than statewide; adding language prohibiting ''foreign nationals'' and ''foreign adversaries'', as defined, from spending to support or oppose ballot measures, with penalties for violations; and add language regarding penalties for ballot initiative signature petition fraud, among other changes.

Missouri voters rejected Amendment 4, which would have require voter approval of citizen-initiated constitutional amendments in each congressional district, rather than statewide. At the time of the election, no other state had this supermajority requirement.

The voters blasted this amendment overwhelmingly.

This made the GOP powers that be quite pissed off, which brings us to today.

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I have been following Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for the last several years with a mixture of revulsion and curiosity. Sort of like viewing a car wreck.

Hoskins, along with current Governor Mike Kehoe, is doing everything he can to thwart the will of the people. It's not democracy it's mob rule, as Hoskins calls it. He is a true federalist, power should not come from mere people but instead only from their duly elected and gerrymandered representatives.

Republicans control five of the seven districts in Missouri. But evidently, that was not enough for them.

In July 2025, The Missouri Independent reported that the Trump administration had urged Republican Party leadership in the state of Missouri to redistrict the state's legislative boundaries to benefit Republicans. 

In September 2025, Missouri lawmakers passed—and Missouri governor Mike Kehoe signed into law—an act changing the state's congressional districts. The new districts dismantled the strongly democratic leaning 5th congressional district and left it for dead.

The proposed new map intends to give Republicans one additional seat in the 2026 United States House of Representatives elections. 

Before the new map went into effect, Missouri was hit with a lawsuit and a veto referendum. The lawsuit argued the new map was unconstitutional, and violated the part of Missouri's Constitution stating that redistricting had to occur after a United States census. 

The Missouri Supreme Court, mostly Republican appointees, disagreed, ruling 4–3 that the state constitution requires redistricting to happen after a census, but does not otherwise explicitly prohibit it.

The veto referendum, in which voters decide whether to pass or reject a law, was initiated by a group named People Not Politicians Missouri after they gathered over 300,000 signatures. Although the number of signatures submitted was sufficient, Hoskins refused to place the measure on the ballot, stating that it was an unconstitutional measure.

His reasoning was quite specious. 

He said it was the province of legislators to establish districts, not voters and referendums.

On September 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of Missouri ruled that the veto referendum was constitutional, and that it could be held on redistricting, ordering the Secretary of State to use the enacted map from 2022 in the November 2026 elections.

Hoskins refused. 

Then his cohort, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, filed an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court and filed a motion requesting the state Supreme Court to pause its ruling from taking effect while the appeal plays out.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied this request on September 8, keeping the 2022 maps in effect for the 2026 election.

You would think that that would be enough, the Supreme Court weighing in. But no, the same day they tried one more power play and got a federal judge to side with them against SCOTUS. Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri issued a temporary restraining order in a separate lawsuit prohibiting the state from using anything but the new 2025 maps.

On September 10, the U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency stay of Judge Clark's order, putting the 2022 map back into place for the 2026 elections.

Hoskins decided to stay and fight, even against the highest court of our land.  On September 10, 2026, the Supreme Court of Missouri found Hoskins in contempt of court for his refusal to implement their ruling regarding the state's congressional maps and 2026 Missouri Proposition A. He subsequently agreed to direct clerks to use the correct legal map.

Now this thing ain't dead, no telling what happens next year bit for the present, their dog will just not hunt.

Interestingly, for me anyway, is that now Hoskins looks like he might be in real hot water. 

You see, the Director of Election Integrity in Missouri, Nicholas La Strada, sued Hoskins on Monday, saying he was ousted from his job after repeatedly reporting conduct he believed was illegal or unethical.

La Strada says senior officials in Hoskins’ office discussed manufacturing a whistleblower complaint about Missouri’s voter-registration system and making it look like it came from an anonymous outsider. The idea was to use an “IP scrambler” and a burner phone to hide where it really came from, then introduce the complaint as evidence in a federal proceeding.

He also alleges serious meddling in a local election in Marshall, Missouri that ulltimately changed the final outcome of a City Council election.

La Strada alleges, Hoskins ordered a retabulation of write-in votes in a city election in Marshall after a complaint about this year’s April election. The election had been certified and a winner named by a single vote. 

After a complaint, Hoskins ordered the votes retabulated, resulting in a different winner, and threatened city officials if they did not comply. La Strada said that exceeded Hoskins’ authority because only a judge can order a recount of votes after certification.

In the other, La Strada said he warned Hoskins in April 2025 that using public funds for an anti-Proposition B mailer appeared to be an election offense.

If what La Strada is saying is correct, I would think Hoskins should be thinking about changing his familiar red coat for prison pin stripes soon.

And if all that is not enough:

 Five Missouri voters from St. Louis City and St. Louis County are suing Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for $80 million over the handling of a ballot measure that challenged the use of the 2025 state congressional map.

In a lawsuit filed on Friday, the five plaintiffs state they are seeking between $100 and $500 in damages for more than 162,000 Missouri voters who signed a measure to have Missouri’s 2025 congressional map put to a vote. The 2025 congressional map was heavily endorsed by President Donald Trump.

The suit states that more than 162,000 petitioners were certified as Missouri voters out of 300,000 who signed the measure. The lawsuit states that Hoskins’ actions affected multiple voters in the same manner, making it grounds for a class-action lawsuit due to the volume of people affected.

The lawsuit goes on to state that Hoskins considered the measure filed by certified voters as insufficient and refused to place it on the next general ballot. He did not challenge petitions supporting the claim that the measure had enough signatures.

Hoskins wrote a self serving editorial today, which unfortunately sits behind a pay wall. He was merely protecting his innocent constituents from evil bolshevik outside influences. 

Why do politicians think that their constituents are too stupid to think for themselves? I think Hoskins is definitely going down, will it take Kehoe down too?