About
Our Work
Stories & News
Money
August 4th marked the historic date that Missouri voters overwhelmingly voted against constitutional amendments that would strip power from people. It also marked the last day the Missouri Secretary of State could decide on the sufficiency of Missouri House Bill 1 (HB 1) referendum signatures. Secretary Denny Hoskins chose to wait until the very last day to issue a certificate of insufficiency, running down the clock between the decision date and the November election. People Not Politicians Missouri (PNP), the citizen-led group that gathered three times the required signatures for the referendum, immediately filed a lawsuit to challenge the decision.
Hoskin’s issuance of insufficiency is another attempt to suppress people power in Missouri. But, Hoskins’ decision is not final. Procedurally, it triggers a fast-tracked court review that will decide whether voters see the gerrymandered HB 1 map on the ballot, and what map is used in the November general election.
Health Forward stands with the more than 300,000 Missourians who signed the referendum petition and oppose the effort to gerrymander Missouri’s 5th Congressional District. They deserve to have their voices heard. Since day one, we’ve worked with a diverse coalition of groups in all four corners of the state to continue to fight back against power grabs by elected officials who increasingly don’t represent us or our issues, and we won’t stop now. Missourians want a say in their democracy and are ready to protect their power. This was shown in the overwhelming NO vote (80.3%) on Amendment 4 across every congressional district of our state—protecting the initiative petition process.
During a special legislative session in 2025, lawmakers passed HB 1, which triggered an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting of Missouri’s congressional districts. The new maps gerrymandered the state from a 6-2 to a 7-1 Republican-controlled map, drawing new districts that combined voters from Kansas City with voters all the way on the Illinois border, and splitting the city along the historic racially dividing line of Troost Avenue.
These maps reflect a long history of exclusion and diminish the voice and political power of hundreds of thousands of Missourians who live and work in the state’s fifth congressional district.
In response to the 2025 gerrymandering attempt, a group of concerned Missouri citizens—Democrats, Independents, and Republicans—came together under the banner of People Not Politicians Missouri to oppose the attempt to concentrate power. The group collected and submitted over 305,000 signatures prior to the deadline from Missouri citizens all across the state to pause the implementation of these maps, bring the legislation to a citizen referendum, and allow voters to decide whether the gerrymandered maps would become law or not.
Since PNP submitted the required signatures, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has held up the constitutional referendum process with delays and legal challenges. Now, Hoskins is arguing the referendum itself is unconstitutional.
The referendum process is a central piece of the Missouri Constitution and is foundational to the power Missouri citizens have to hold their elected representatives accountable.
Partisan elected officials are setting the standard for how they intend to respond to the will of the people when they do not agree with the outcomes. Missourians have done everything correctly and followed all of the referendum rules. Instead of honoring the longstanding constitutional right of citizens, politicians are attempting to silence, confuse, and discourage voters.
At Health Forward Foundation, our mission is to achieve health equity and secure a fair and just region. When fair representation is challenged, so is our ability to achieve our mission.
Congressional districts are meant to reflect individual communities, ensuring they are represented by leaders who understand and advocate for their specific needs. By gerrymandering Kansas City along racial lines, lawmakers are purposefully diluting the voting power of a heavily Black community—changes that could have long-lasting impacts on the ability of Black residents to advocate for their interests in Congress.
Redistricting not only strips power and voice from Black voters in Kansas City but also distorts representation in the surrounding rural districts and undermines fair and effective representation throughout Missouri.
This goes beyond the fifth congressional district. Secretary of State Hoskins has made calls to eliminate the St. Louis-based 1st District—the state’s lone Black-majority, following the April Supreme Court Louisiana v. Callais decision. That elimination of MO-1 would create an 8-0 Republican-controlled map.
The Supreme Court’s decision on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais fundamentally shifted the playbook for redistricting across the United States. Section 2 prohibits voter discrimination on the basis of race, color, or membership in language minority groups. Now, states have the ability to draw district maps that dilute the power of Black voters, so long as the districts are technically divided on partisan lines, rather than racial ones.
People Not Politicians Missouri anticipated that Secretary Hoskins would refuse to certify the HB 1 referendum, and filed a lawsuit in response. The group’s lawsuit challenges the decision from Hoskins and seeks to secure the placement of the referendum on the November 2026 ballot, where Missourians would have the opportunity to vote on the gerrymandered ‘Missouri First’ congressional maps. Since ballots must be finalized by September 8, courts will have to fast-track the lawsuit to ensure the issue is resolved in time.
Health Forward and advocates await the court ruling to place the gerrymandered maps on the ballot. We will continue education and advocacy around this issue, and work to ensure Missourians maintain their right to self-determination in their elections.
