Rick Brattin
Role at the time: Missouri state senator, Republican nominee for the 5th Congressional District and plaintiff in the federal lawsuit
Response to this claim
Because Missouri held its August primary under the 2025 map, the U.S. Constitution requires it to use that same map in the November general election, and using the 2022 map instead would violate Article I, Section 2 and equal protection.
“Voters cast their primary ballots under this map, and they should be able to vote in the same districts for the general election … Changing the map halfway through an election forces people into different districts with candidates they never had a chance to choose in the primary. That defies common sense and undermines the entire electoral process.”
KOMU reports the Eighth Circuit ruling and quotes Sen. Rick Brattin's full statement. The Missouri Independent and KSHB report the first sentence of the same statement.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The reference point is use of the 2025 map in the 2026 general election. Brattin argues that voters should vote in the same districts in the general election as in the primary, which defends using the 2025 map. The closest competing label, “Mixed or conditional”, loses because he states no condition on that position.