Hoskins found in contempt of court; reverses himself on Missouri’s gerrymandered map

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The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon ruled that Secretary of State Denny Hoskins was in contempt of court for ordering local election officials to use a redrawn congressional map in November after conflicting rulings from the state’s high court and a federal court judge.

But in the same breath that Chief Justice W. Brent Powell announced the court’s decision, he declared that Hoskins had purged himself of the contempt violation by conceding defeat. Hoskins notified the court after his morning contempt hearing that he had reversed course and directed local election officials to use the same congressional map as in 2022 and 2024.

“This court finds the secretary of state was in contempt of its September 3, 2026, order enjoining him from the implementation, utilization and mandating the use of the congressional districting map in HB 1 for the November 2026 general election,” Powell said, referring to the Republican-friendly map passed by the General Assembly in 2025.

“However, the civil contemptor has at all times the power to purge himself of all contempt by complying with the order of this court,” Powell continued. “The court finds that the secretary has since corrected his contemptuous conduct by informing this court of his notifications to the local elections authorities . . . to use the 2022 congressional district map.”

The charge against Hoskins came as the chaotic fight over Missouri’s congressional map appeared to reach its conclusion on Thursday. Hoskins and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway both agreed that the state’s 2022 map would govern the Nov. 3 election.

Those acknowledgments capped off two weeks of turmoil in Missouri. A flurry of legal filings and rulings had left local election officials uncertain about which map to use in November after the state ran the August primary using a gerrymandered one designed to help Republicans.

At every turn, Hoskins, Hanaway and other Republican officials fought to use the map, which lawmakers passed last year under pressure from President Donald Trump. But, in the end, the state appears ready to hold the election using the old map.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday morning again rejected Republican officials’ push to use the new map, which was designed to maximize the odds of ousting Kansas City’s longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The nation’s high court blocked a federal ruling that required the state to use the new map in the November election.

Moments before the Missouri Supreme Court issued its oral ruling on Hoskins’ short-lived contempt violation, a state attorney reaffirmed that the 2022 map was the law of the land.

“The temporary restraining order remains stayed by the (U.S.) Supreme Court, and nothing will change that for the time being,” said William Seidleck, a principal deputy solicitor general who represented Hoskins during the contempt hearing.

In response to Thursday’s contempt hearing, some Republican lawmakers have attacked the court, including some who have called for wholesale changes to how the state chooses judges. In a letter to Powell late Wednesday, 14 Republican state lawmakers vowed to impeach the state’s judges if they held Hoskins in contempt.

On Thursday afternoon, Missouri House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, said he had no interest in pursuing punitive action against the Supreme Court judges over their handling of Hoskins.

“That’s not where my head is at this point,” Patterson said.

“I have seen the news reports of it, but that wasn’t something that was going through my thought process,” he added.

This story was originally published September 10, 2026 at 3:46 PM with the headline “Hoskins found in contempt of court; reverses himself on Missouri’s gerrymandered map.”