Missouri secretary of state orders restoration of old congressional district maps
Missouri’s top elections official on Thursday ordered local authorities to use the state’s older congressional district map for the midterm election, after a supreme court ruling today blocked the reinstatement of a newer, Republican-favored map.
Denny Hoskins, Missouri’s Republican secretary of state, had been fighting in the courts to keep the newer maps. But his office issued a statement on Thursday confirming that Missouri is now set to use its congressional district map from 2022 heading into the November elections.
Previously, the Missouri state supreme court had ruled that the newer set of maps, drawn by Missouri Republicans in 2025, couldn’t be used for the 2026 election, and ordered the state to restore its 2022 congressional district boundaries. The supreme court shot down an appeal of that decision last week.
A federal judge’s conflicting ruling in another case to restore the GOP-backed maps sent the matter back to the supreme court. The high court again sided against Missouri Republicans.
“Following the United States supreme court’s stay, the only governing court order in effect is from the Missouri supreme court,” Hoskins’ office said in a statement. “In accordance with that order, my Office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.”
The Republican-favored map drawn in 2025 came as part of a nationwide Republican redistricting push backed by Donald Trump. The new boundaries would’ve carved up a Kansas City-area district held by Democrats, likely winning Missouri Republicans an additional seat in the House of Representatives.
Earlier on Thursday, Hoskins appeared before the Missouri Supreme Court in a contempt hearing over his failure to immediately enact the court’s order to restore the 2022 maps.
Key events
Here’s a recap of the day so far
The Supreme Court appeared to end the legal turmoil around Missouri’s congressional map. After a protracted legal battle that has thrown the state’s elections into chaos, the Supreme Court ruled for a second time in favor of a Missouri court’s order to restore the state’s 2022 congressional district map. The decision likely kills Missouri Republicans’ efforts to use the new district boundaries they drew in 2025, which could’ve secured them an extra House seat in the state. The Missouri Secretary of State, himself facing a contempt hearing over his alleged intransigence in restoring the old maps, officially ordered local elections officials to use the 2022 maps.
Trump’s pledge to give Americans $5,000 each if Republicans win the midterms is met with skepticism and bribery allegations. On Wednesday night, Trump promised to send Americans $5,000 payments if Republicans won out in the midterms. But not long after Trump made the promise, his vice president was already hedging on it, and other Republicans expressed similar unease. Meanwhile, some Democrats, like Beto O’Rourke, lambasted the proposal as outright bribery.
Conservatives marked the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr., both friends and allies of the conservative activist, appeared on his flagship podcast for a memorial show, as Thursday marked one year since Kirk was killed during an event at a Utah university. The White House, top US Republicans and conservative heads of state also put out statements honoring Kirk.
An appeals court rejected Trump’s restrictions on voting by mail. A panel of judges at the first US circuit court of appeals in Boston declined to lift a block against the restrictions Trump outlined in an executive order, which granted the federal government sweeping new authorities over mail-in voting.
Top advisors to Trump warn the war in Iran could endure longer than his term. The Wall Street Journal reported that, behind closed doors, top members of Trump’s cabinet have been warning him that Iran could potentially hold out against US pressure for longer than he’ll remain in office. That report undercuts Trump’s public stance, which is that Iran will cave as soon as the midterm elections are over (so long as Republicans win).
Missouri secretary of state orders restoration of old congressional district maps
Missouri’s top elections official on Thursday ordered local authorities to use the state’s older congressional district map for the midterm election, after a supreme court ruling today blocked the reinstatement of a newer, Republican-favored map.
Denny Hoskins, Missouri’s Republican secretary of state, had been fighting in the courts to keep the newer maps. But his office issued a statement on Thursday confirming that Missouri is now set to use its congressional district map from 2022 heading into the November elections.
Previously, the Missouri state supreme court had ruled that the newer set of maps, drawn by Missouri Republicans in 2025, couldn’t be used for the 2026 election, and ordered the state to restore its 2022 congressional district boundaries. The supreme court shot down an appeal of that decision last week.
A federal judge’s conflicting ruling in another case to restore the GOP-backed maps sent the matter back to the supreme court. The high court again sided against Missouri Republicans.
“Following the United States supreme court’s stay, the only governing court order in effect is from the Missouri supreme court,” Hoskins’ office said in a statement. “In accordance with that order, my Office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.”
The Republican-favored map drawn in 2025 came as part of a nationwide Republican redistricting push backed by Donald Trump. The new boundaries would’ve carved up a Kansas City-area district held by Democrats, likely winning Missouri Republicans an additional seat in the House of Representatives.
Earlier on Thursday, Hoskins appeared before the Missouri Supreme Court in a contempt hearing over his failure to immediately enact the court’s order to restore the 2022 maps.
The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday published a formal proposal to eliminate a visa grace period for foreign workers who lose their jobs.
Under rules established by the Obama administration, foreign workers with certain work-related visas – including the common H-1B visa category – had a 60-day window after losing their job before having to leave the country. During that time, workers could seek new employment or pursue other changes to their immigration status.
The new rule published Wednesday would remove that grace period and require workers, as well as any family members dependent on their visa status, to leave the US immediately after their employment ends.
Voting and civil rights groups file lawsuit to keep ICE away from polls
An alliance of advocacy groups and a Democratic-led city on Thursday filed a preemptive lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from deploying armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to polling sites ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The lawsuit cites a statute dating back to the civil war that forbids armed federal officers from approaching voting sites.
“The specter of armed officers at polling places threatens the freedom of this upcoming election,” the lawsuit read. “It places voters in fear that they will be confronted by armed federal law enforcement if they choose to cast a ballot.”
The lawsuit specifically named the Department of Homeland Security and ICE as defendants, as well as their respective leaders, Markwayne Mullin and David Venturella.
It was filed by the liberal-leaning legal group Democracy Forward, on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Common Cause, UnidosUS and the city of Denver.
Despite Mullin saying that “ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places,” he added that they could be present if there is a threat to the site or if agents are serving a warrant to someone present.
Trump administration officials have denied concrete plans for such deployments, while simultaneously not ruling out the presence of agents at polling sites under some circumstances, such as those shared by Mullin.
Appeals court upholds block on Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting
A US appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s bid to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in voting, dealing a fresh blow to the president’s attempted crackdown.
The Boston-based first US circuit court of appeals three-judge panel declined to put on hold an injunction issued by a lower court judge last week, preventing the US Postal Service from tightening rules around postal voting.
The decision comes as the supreme court considers the same case and states have already started sending out ballots for the high-stakes midterm elections.
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “threatened” the show and that an interview with James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, will not air on television but on YouTube.
The FCC has been enforcing equal time rules for political candidates, which traditionally didn’t apply to talk shows.
In Kimmel’s Wednesday night broadcast, he suggested Trump’s presidency influenced this change.
“Now that [Trump] is president, his FCC has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple, traditional editorial decisions,” Kimmel said.
“In the America we live in right now, that is the best we can do, until November, of course,” Kimmel added regarding the decision.
Talarico, a Texas state representative, is locked in a tight Senate race against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s gotten an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Vance was followed on the Charlie Kirk Podcast’s memorial show by Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son. Trump Jr. recalled how he first met Kirk in 2015 during his father’s first run for president.
“It was the beginning of a long friendship,” Trump Jr. said.
“I think we spoke every day for 10 years,” he added later.
Elsewhere, conservative leaders in the United States and around the world have issued statements commemorating the one year anniversary of Kirk’s assassination. The White House posted a tribute video to social media, and Trump honored the anniversary of Kirk’s death during his address to the GOP midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday night.
James Talarico accuses Paxton of dismissing Epstein survivors
Adam Gabbatt
James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, has accused his rival Ken Paxton of “ignoring” survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse, as Democrats seek to increase pressure on Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.
Speaking in Dallas, where Republicans are holding a midterm convention this week, Talarico appeared alongside one of Epstein’s victims at an exhibit which featured about three million pages of Department of Justice files related to Epstein.
“When did pedophilia become a partisan issue? When did holding sexual abusers accountable become controversial?” Talarico said. He said survivors of Epstein’s abuse had requested to meet with Paxton, the Texas attorney general, but he had refused.
“Our attorney general here in Texas has the power to get justice for these survivors, and he’s refusing to do so,” Talarico said.
He added: “Ken Paxton has two choices: he can stand with these survivors and get justice, or he can continue to cover up Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. The choice is entirely his.”
On Wednesday Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat running against Texas Governor Greg Abbott, visited the same exhibit and met with Epstein’s victims, in a sign Democrats plan to highlight Trump’s relationship with the convicted sex offender.
“It’s really incredible that we live in a country where the justice system is so broken at every level that there has not been accountability of what we know was extensive sexual abuse, exploitation that happened for decades,” Hinojosa said, according to Associated press. “And that powerful people who run this country are still living their lives without having been held to account.”
JD Vance is currently speaking on the Charlie Kirk Show as today marks the one year anniversary of Kirk’s assassination during an event at a university in Utah.
A year removed from Kirk’s killing, Vance eulogized him on his former flagship podcast as an irreplaceable leader of the conservative movement and as a close personal friend and ally.
“There’s no way to replace Charlie Kirk,” Vance said.
Kirk was an early supporter of Vance during his 2022 run for Senate in Ohio, and later advocated for his selection as Trump’s running mate in 2024. Since his death, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, who has taken over running her late husband’s political organization, Turning Point USA, has voiced support for Vance to succeed Trump as president.
Beto O’Rourke calls Trump’s promise of $5,000 payments “a bribe”
David Smith
Beto O’Rourke, a former US congressman and presidential candidate, has dismissed Donald Trump’s offer of $5,000 to US citizens if Republicans win Congress as “the stink of desperation.”
“I think people will take it for what it is: it’s a gimmick, it’s a bribe,” O’Rourke said on Thursday at a roundtable hosted by Bloomberg News in Dallas. “It’s another promise that the president will be unable to fulfill. He’s promised these kinds of dividends before. I think we were supposed to get one from all of the money we were making off of tariffs. It’s never materialised.”
O’Rourke, founder of Powered by People, a Texas-based progressive organisation focused on turning out voters, continued: “It adds to the stink of desperation. That is emanating from that convention centre and every action that we’ve seen over the last 12 months: gerrymandering five congressional districts, screwing with vote by mail, shutting down 92 polling places, more than a million Texans on the suspense list.
“This is a party that cannot compete on the power of its ideas or on its accomplishments while in office and so they’re trying to stop people literally from voting or bribe those who they think can be persuaded. I just don’t think that’s going to be effective.”
O’Rourke, who lost a Texas Senate race to Ted Cruz in 2018, struck an optimistic note about Democrat James Talarico’s chances against Republican Ken Paxton. He suggested that Trump is even more unpopular now than he was then and that Talarico will be boosted by Democrats competing in every down ballot election this time.
“If you had to dream up the perfect opponent in the Senate race, if you’re a Democrat, you could not do better than Ken Paxton. Zero charisma, no connection, no money. The president is openly mocking him at every single turn. Those are all totally different from what we saw in 2018.”
