By admin 
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins needs a civics refresher. How else to explain his reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court blocking Missouri Republicans’ attempt to use a rigged congressional map in the upcoming general election?
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Shortly after SCOTUS ruled Missouri must use its 2022 congressional map in November’s election, Hoskins, the red sportscoat-wearing firebrand from Warrensburg, posted the following on the Secretary of State’s official X (formerly Twitter) page: “While today’s SCOTUS ruling is a disappointing blow to representative democracy, I appreciate the final clarity. My office will of course comply with the law. I have every confidence in our local election authorities and that they will administer a seamless general election.”
This particular part of Hoskins’ statement was mild compared to what followed. He finished his screed against the rule of law with this dandy:
“I am proud of the fight I put up to defend the virtues of our constitutional republic, upon which the Founding Founders built this great country,” Hoskins wrote. “I hope Missourians know I left nothing on the field — and I never will. I will always fight for Missourians, and for preserving the American way of life. God bless America.”
Hoskins would have us believe he fought to protect a constitutional republic by trying to force a gerrymandered congressional map down our throats. Sure, Secretary Hoskins. In reality, he dragged his feet on certifying a petition to place the map before voters, violating the very state constitution he is sworn to uphold. It turns out leadership in a constitutional republic requires actually following the constitution itself.
“The Missouri Secretary of State was well aware that conducting the August primary election with the 2025 map carried significant risks,” the U.S Supreme Court’s ruling reads. “The Secretary nonetheless chose to proceed with the 2025 map for the primary.”
And for that very reason, I am not buying what Hoskins is selling in the face of SCOTUS’ smackdown and no other Missourian should either.
A rigged process
Hoskins isn’t the only elected (or appointed) public official that needs to be called out for playing this unfortunate game of charades. Governor Mike Kehoe signed the 2025 map, known as HB-1, into law, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway fought tooth and nail in court to use the map, and state Sen. Rick Brattin and U.S. Rep. Bob Onder filed a lawsuit to keep the map in play in November. Other Republicans from around the state that supported this mid-decade redistricting and GOP lawmakers that threaten to impeach the Missouri Supreme Court for declaring HB-1 illegal deserve a share of the blame for the constitutional crisis we unwittingly found ourselves in.
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Consider these defiant statements some of our leaders made on X after SCOTUS’ ruling Friday:
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe
“It is disappointing that today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court means Missouri will conduct its November general election under a different congressional map than its primary election. Voters deserved consistency and certainty, and not for the rules to be changed between elections. Nevertheless, Missouri will follow the Court’s order.”
U.S. Rep. Bob Onder
“Another disappointing decision by the Supreme Court. The MO S Ct’s activist decision disenfranchised 1.2 million Missourians who voted on August 4th.”
Missouri State Sen. Rick Brattin
“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a travesty for Missouri voters and for the integrity of our elections. This is the most unprecedented form of voter disenfranchisement in American history, and Missouri voters deserve far better. The responsibility for this chaos rests first and foremost with the Missouri Supreme Court. With the stroke of a pen, it overturned a congressional map passed by the people’s elected legislature and signed by the Governor after that map had already been used to conduct the primary election.” Brattin is running for Congress in the 5th District despite living in the 4th District.
Kehoe, Onder, Brattin and other top Republicans in Missouri may lament a “lack of consistency” and point fingers at the courts, but their feigned outrage ignores a fundamental truth: the chaos they decry is entirely of their own making. By illegally forcing a gerrymandered map onto the August primary, these officials gambled with voters’ trust and lost.
No amount of social media posturing can disguise the reality that true election integrity starts with following the law, not crying foul when the nation’s highest court calls your bluff.
This story was originally published September 27, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline “Missouri GOP take to X to lament high court map order. They’re crying foul | Porter.”
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