f{"id":50119,"date":"2026-09-10T13:29:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T20:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=50119"},"modified":"2026-09-10T13:29:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T20:29:45","slug":"the-missouri-gop-serves-up-a-masterclass-on-how-to-rig-an-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/the-missouri-gop-serves-up-a-masterclass-on-how-to-rig-an-election\/","title":{"rendered":"The Missouri GOP Serves Up a Masterclass on How to Rig an Election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Voters,
Voters sign in to participate in the Republican and Democratic primaries in Mehlville, Missouri on March 15, 2016. Photo credit: \u00a9 Cristina M. Fletes\/TNS via ZUMA Wire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Courts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klaus Marre<\/a>\u00a009\/09\/26 (WhoWhatWhy.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only good thing about the Missouri GOP’s increasingly desperate attempt to steal a congressional seat is that they are forced to do it openly, which allows everybody to see what an anti-democratic and morally corrupt bunch they are.<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Missouri is known as the Show Me State, and its Republican officials are currently showing the country how to steal an election. Here is how they are trying to do it, what it says about the GOP, and why it should infuriate anybody who believes in democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all started last year, when the state legislature passed a gerrymandered map with the goal of disenfranchising Black voters in Kansas City. Previously, Missouri\u2019s House delegation consisted of six Republicans and two Democrats. While that 75-25 percent split isn\u2019t a fair representation of the population of a state in which 60 percent voted for Donald Trump (a 5-3 split would be), that\u2019s not awful in an age of extreme gerrymanders, especially because Democrats are mainly concentrated in two urban districts in St. Louis and Kansas City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it wasn\u2019t good enough for Missouri Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why they eagerly followed Trump\u2019s call to rig congressional maps across the country in the GOP\u2019s favor in an effort to hold on to the House majority and allow the president to shirk any kind of accountability for running roughshod over the rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was a redistricting effort that \u201ccracked\u201d Kansas City, which means that, instead of leaving it in a single district that Democrat Emanuel Cleaver had held for more than 20 years, they placed parts of the city in three others in which Republicans were favored to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Missouri\u2019s constitution grants the state\u2019s citizens the right to have a say in the matter if enough of them petition the government to do so. In that case, a referendum would be placed on the ballot of an upcoming election to allow the people to decide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is precisely what happened in this case. The group People, Not Politicians collected 300,000 signatures to put the new map to a vote this fall before it could be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, this didn\u2019t sit well with Missouri\u2019s GOP officials, which is why they tried to declare the group\u2019s effort null and void. And, to escape judicial scrutiny, Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until the last moment to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, Missouri held its primary using the new map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the state\u2019s Supreme Court last week ruled unanimously that this was illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise,\u201d it stated<\/a> and declared that the old map must be used for the midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Missouri\u2019s Republicans, still desperate to steal that one seat and running out of options to do so, then petitioned the US Supreme Court to review that ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They argued that it would be unlawful to use one map for the primary and another for the general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNever before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election,\u201d stated Missouri\u2019s Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R). \u201cThis unprecedented decision clearly violates federal law and has thrust our state into a full\u2011fledged constitutional crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we pointed out last week<\/a>, what she conveniently failed to mention is that this is a crisis of the GOP\u2019s own making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, on Tuesday, the US Supreme Court declined to get involved when Brett Kavanaugh, who oversees emergency requests from Missouri, denied a request to overturn that ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, to summarize, at this point, both the state\u2019s and the nation\u2019s highest courts had weighed in on the matter and ruled, despite the GOP\u2019s best efforts, that the old map should be used for the midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, shortly after the US Supreme Court opted to sit this one out and left in place the unanimous decision of the state Supreme Court, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Missouri said, effectively, \u201cYou know what? Let\u2019s just use this rigged new map.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, even though the higher courts said otherwise, this is the ruling Missouri Republicans want to go with. They quickly announced that they would now use the new map in the fall, no take-backs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this mean for the midterms? We honestly don\u2019t know. There is a good chance that the Supreme Court(s) will get involved again, but it may also be too late at this point, which was obviously the GOP\u2019s point all along in waiting to illegally reject the referendum initiative at the last minute and in now immediately embracing the only ruling that went in their favor even though it came from a lower court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what we do know: The sordid actions of the state\u2019s Republicans are an affront to democracy, and they should be ashamed of themselves for trying to rig the upcoming election and circumvent the rule of law at every single turn to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, to put it differently, Show Me political corruption at the highest level and I\u2019ll show you Missouri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n