WHOA: Republicans dealt BOMBSHELL LOSS in deep red state

We just got a bombshell ruling out of. Missouri where it is now final that. Missouri will be using the 6-2. congressional map as opposed to the new. 7 to1 congressional map that Republicans. were hoping to shoehorn through. I'm. joined now by Richard von Glan, the. executive director of People Not. Politicians. That is the organization. that collected 300,000 signatures to put. this issue of redrawing the maps on the. ballot as opposed to allowing the. legislature to just redraw a more. Republican favorable map. So given the. news today that we just got, Richard, I.

want to get your reaction first and. foremost to the fact that the Secretary. of State Denny Hoskins was held in. contempt because he was so unwilling to. abide by not only the Missouri Supreme. Court's order, but even the US Supreme. Supreme Court order uh and just decided. that they would continue to barrel ahead. and try and use this more favorable 7. to1 map. >> Yeah. I mean, Denny Hoskins for months. has just been engaged in legal. obstruction and delay. He was a.

participant in a collusive lawsuit to. try to illegally force Missurrians to v. to vote on an illegal map. And I'm. thrilled to see that that issue was put. to rest and the Supreme Court left no. doubt that they're tired of his. shenanigans. >> What does this mean moving forward? Uh, obviously this is a great result for. this upcoming 2026 midterm cycle, but I. presume, and I presume that this is the. same for you, that the fight isn't over. as far as these Republicans are.

concerned. >> Yeah, we certainly still have a fight on. our hands for November. Uh, the. referendum is live there. We need to. mobilize our communities to vote no on. Proposition A and just kill this thing. finally once and forever and and kill it. dead. What does it say that you were able to. gain 300,000 signatures on a petition. that really only needed a h 100,000? What what does it say about the the. appetite that folks have not to contract.

all of their autonomy, all of their. power over to these power- hungry. Republicans in the legislature and the. state government. >> Yeah, this is actually September 10th is. the one-year anniversary of the largest. rally held in Missouri history at our. state capital. over 5,000 people came in. to tell our legislature no to this. DCdrawn. uh election rigging. You know, they did. it anyway. Within the first 24 hours of. our politicians passing this.

gerrymander, we had over 2,000. volunteers all across the state saying, "Give me a petition. Give me a. clipboard. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to. fight for my community." And fight they. did. and I'm I'm glad at this step that. we've won and we're going to go finish. the job. >> You know, this is not exactly a liberal. bastion. And so, can you speak about. your reaction to the fact that this I. mean, this took place in Missouri? I. think the last time uh a a Democrat was. even in power statewide in Missouri, if. I'm not mistaken, was was the the.

governor back in like in in like the. early 2010s. Is that is that correct? Um, you know, Missurrians have. consistently voted on ballot initiatives. that support our our neighbors. Um, we. have expanded Medicaid. We have raised. the minimum wage three times. We have. overturned a complete ban on abortion. We've actually banned gerrymandering. before. Now, the legislature has. overturned some of those things. And so,

we're in a constant back and forth. I. don't look at Missouri in the red verse. blue dynamic. I look at it from the. dynamic of politicians in Jeff City who. who are just power hungry and completely. out of touch with the realities of our. communities and people joining together. and fighting back against that. >> You know, you you mentioning Jeff City. uh again brings to mind what the. Missouri Supreme Court said today, which. was warning Denny Hoskins not to even.

leave Jeff City. And it was ironic that. within minutes of of them signaling that. they were going to hold uh Hoskins in. contempt and not to leave Jefferson City. so that he could be arrested, he issued. a statement saying uh you know, lo and. behold, I'm going to abide by the. Missouri Supreme Court's order. Then you. have the Republican attorney general of. Missouri saying, "I'm so glad that that. I get to follow in the footsteps of. Denny Hoskins and we're going we're. going to support his effort to to uphold. the law and abide by the Missouri.

Supreme Court's ruling." You know, it's. I I I just found it find it so striking. that only when some of these folks are. faced with the prospect of personal. accountability do they suddenly remember. their allegiance and their adherence to. law and the Constitution and their own. oath of office. >> Yeah, that is certainly true. Our. unelected attorney general and secretary. of state have done everything that they. can to thwart the will of Missouri. voters and the laws of this state. I.

don't know why we have an attorney. general who is not defending the. Constitution of Missouri and the laws of. Missouri and is instead doing the. bidding of, you know, special interest. in DC. Um, she's she never got elected. to that office. So maybe that explains. who she's really accountable to, right? Not to the voters. But that's what we. have had. But we had a volunteer who who. made a sign that said Denny can't veto. democracy. And that is true. and the law.

is the law and the law has won out and. the people are going to win out this. November. >> Was this a surprising result for you. given the political the partisan makeup. of the Missouri Supreme Court? If I'm. not mistaken, six of the seven state. Supreme Court justices were appointed by. Republican officials. Is that correct? >> I I think it's five out of seven. But. Missouri's got a model nonpartisan court. plan. We've actually tried to keep. politics out of our judiciary and that's. an important thing to do across the.

country. You want to have judges who can. simply look at things as the law. Sure, they have their perspectives, but at the. end of the day, the law is the law. And. it's it's very telling that these were. unanimous decisions, a unanimous. decision out of the Supreme Court of. Missouri. today out of the US Supreme. Court. Um, you know, it's on the shadow. docket, so we don't know exactly how all. the votes came, but there were no. dissents, right? >> Um, in the in the position today. So, I. think it's pretty telling how out of.

bounds our secretary of state and. attorney general have been. Um, and the. law is the law and that's what won out. here. >> Have you heard from any voters in. Missouri? I mean, obviously the folks. who were collecting signatures all. across the country had a ton of facetime. with the 3,000 people who signed these. petitions, but is there anything that. stood out to you in terms of what these. otherwise pretty firmly Republican. voters, a Republican electorate said as.

this process was moving forward? >> Yeah. I mean, I think we had we had. people circulating our petition and a. you know, Donald Trump mega t-shirt um. because he understands that actually, you know, Trump's promises of drain to. the swamp and do different things that. actually this was the exact opposite of. that. Um, these were political insiders. trying to enrich themselves, trying to. um inoculate themselves from any voter. accountability and that's not what the.

people of this state want. We are facing. an affordability crisis. Our farmers are. struggling with ridiculous tariff and. trade policies. And people want. accountability for the failures in DC. And you know, the best way that we can. do that is by protecting ourselves from. this election rigging and voting no on. Prop A in November. You know, just a a. little bit of a political question here, but you had mentioned that Missouri has. a long history or proud history of. voting against um or voting in favor of.

these ballot measures that would protect. themselves. Often times, these ballot. measures are positions espoused by. Democratic politicians. So, the. Democratic politicians will lose out on. the ballot, but their positions will win. out and Republican officials who oppose. those positions will get elected to. office. And then we're, you know, the. people of Missouri are in a position. where they have to constantly make their. voices heard via these referendums. against the very people who they.

elected. Is there some is there. beginning to be some understanding that. that you know the the the folks in the. Republican party, these Republican. politicians are actually espousing. positions that are antithetical to what. the voters of Missouri want and that and. that there would it would be easier to. elect Democratic politicians who. actually espouse those positions so that. we don't constantly need to defer to. these referendums or ballot measures to. to you know fight back against their. very elected officials. I I think you.

are beginning to see that just last. month there were two issues. A massive. uh tax cut for the wealthiest that would. have raised taxes for most working. families in Missouri and a politician. attack on our direct democracy process, our ballot initiative process. You saw. those pushed by the governor, by the. secretary of state, by the attorney. general. And both of those issues were. defeated by over 80% of Missouri voters.

They each failed in every single county. in the state. I mean, they were. historic, massive losses. I saw a poll. out this morning that showed for the. first time, Governor Mike Kho is. underwater. President Trump is. underwater in Missouri. Voters are sick. and tired of the shenanigans, of the. power grabs, of the games. We need to. have results delivered to us and if our. elected officials are going to be able. unable to do that then they need to face. the consequences of that in free and.

fair elections. >> Last time uh want to offer a big. congratulations and a thank you for the. work that uh people not politicians did. in getting this thing over the finish. line. But as you mentioned the work. isn't done. So one more call to action. for folks who are watching right now in. terms of what voters in Missouri can do. to protect democracy come November. Yeah, certainly anyone can visit our. website people not politiciansmo.org. You can follow us on all the social. media channels. You can make a. contribution to us and help support our. work. And if you're in Missouri, be.

prepared to vote no on Proposition A. Join us in one of our upcoming canvases. and help spread the word. >> Awesome. Well, thank you again for the. work that you've done. Congratulations. on this outcome and uh and looking. forward to watching you all land the. plane come November. Richard, I. appreciate your time. >> All right. Thanks so much. >> [music].