“I followed the letter of the law and gave all matters associated with ballot certification the attention they were due,” Hoskins’ statement read. “I believe I owed the people of Missouri nothing less. I look forward to taking this to the federal level, where I’m confident I will prevail.”
In an interview Friday on conservative radio station 97.1 FM (KFTK), Hoskins also suggested it was the court, not him, that had thrust the state’s elections into chaos and potentially disenfranchised some Missouri voters.
“You, as someone that voted in the primary election in August and voted in one district, and now being changed back to a different district for the general election … you could argue that yes, you got disenfranchised,” Hoskins said. “And you should have remedy on that, and you should be able to sue to say, ‘No wait, I already voted for the Missouri First map in the primary election on Aug. 4, and therefore that map should be the map in the general election.”
That ran counter to the direction from Missouri’s highest court, where five of the seven members were appointed by Republican governors. The court said Hoskins’ arguments “fundamentally misunderstand” the status of the state’s congressional districts. They were never in effect, Gooch wrote, and Hoskins’ arguments “are wholly unpersuasive.”
“Regardless of any confusion, expense, or practical difficulties caused by the secretary’s delay and incorrect assumption about whether the referendum petition would be deemed sufficient, simply continuing to utilize the congressional redistricting in HB 1 does not comport with the Missouri Constitution,” the court’s opinion said, “because the 2022 map is the only map in effect.”
State Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, also sued on Friday. He won the primary to run in the now-voided 5th Congressional District and is technically the Republican nominee challenging Cleaver. He was joined by U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, in filing suit in federal court in St. Louis, which is dominated by Trump-appointed judges, to overturn the state Supreme Court ruling.