Decision made: 2022 Missouri Congressional Map to be used for November elections

A decision was made Thursday on which Congressional Map will be used for the November elections.

The choice was whether voters in the state would use the map from 2022 or the more recent map of re-drawn congressional districts.

Jasper County Clerk Charlie Davis said:

"We just got communication from the Secretary of State's office that says we need to comply with the Missouri Supreme Court decision and we need to use the 2022 map."

Davis continued:

"Granted, that does not affect Jasper County because we have always totally been in the 7th Congressional District but at least we now have clarity statewide."

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins had sought to use the new Republican map.

The decision will please some Missourians but will leave others disgruntled.

Davis says the decision is final and ballots in the state may now be printed for the election.

MORE BELOW: The Missouri Supreme Court found Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt Thursday for violating its order barring use of the state’s Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map, but imposed no penalty after Hoskins reversed course and directed election officials to use the state’s 2022 districts.

Chief Justice W. Brent Powell announced the finding from the bench Thursday afternoon after an extraordinary day of hearings over Missouri’s rapidly changing congressional map dispute.

The court determined Hoskins had violated its injunction when he instructed local election authorities Tuesday to use the 2025 congressional districts. But Powell said Hoskins had purged the contempt after issuing new instructions Thursday directing election officials to use the 2022 map.

The decision followed pointed questioning from Missouri Supreme Court judges earlier in the day over Hoskins’ handling of conflicting state and federal court orders.

“We’re in a precarious situation,” Powell said during the morning hearing.

Judges repeatedly pressed an attorney representing Hoskins for a clear commitment that the secretary would tell local election officials to use the 2022 districts. Hoskins sat in the front row of the courtroom during the proceeding.

Powell also urged Hoskins to remain near Jefferson City while the court considered what action to take. The court ordered the parties to return at 2 p.m.

By the time they returned, Hoskins had sent new guidance to election officials directing them to use the 2022 congressional map.

The contempt dispute grew out of a series of conflicting court rulings over which congressional boundaries Missouri must use in the Nov. 3 general election.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously Sept. 3 that the 2025 congressional map never took effect because opponents submitted a valid referendum petition before the law became effective. The court ordered Hoskins to put the map before voters as Proposition A and barred him from using the new districts unless voters approve them.

The court said Missouri should instead use the congressional map adopted in 2022.

Hoskins appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh declined to block the Missouri ruling.

Minutes after that decision Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a temporary restraining order in a separate federal lawsuit that barred Hoskins from using any congressional map other than the 2025 version.

Hoskins then told local election officials that Clark’s federal order took precedence over the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision and instructed them to proceed with the 2025 map.

That prompted referendum supporters to seek a contempt finding against Hoskins.

The legal landscape changed again Thursday morning when the full U.S. Supreme Court blocked Clark’s order. No justice publicly dissented.

That decision left the Missouri Supreme Court’s directive in place and prompted Hoskins to reverse his instructions to local election authorities.

The result means Missouri is now preparing to conduct the November general election using the 2022 congressional districts, even though the state used the 2025 map during its August primary.

Republican lawmakers approved the new map during a 2025 special legislative session. The boundaries substantially reshaped Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-based 5th Congressional District and were designed to improve Republicans’ chances of winning seven of Missouri’s eight U.S. House seats.

The 2025 map will remain before voters as Proposition A in November.

The contempt finding resolves the immediate dispute over Hoskins’ compliance with the state court, but litigation over Missouri’s congressional districts continues in federal court.