This red-state GOP hatched a plot to screw over its voters — and deserves a wakeup call

Republican lawmakers are in desperate need of a civics lesson.

They need to learn — or be reminded — that as elected officials, their first obligation is to uphold the laws of the Missouri Constitution as they fight for the welfare and well-being of the citizens they represent.

For years now, Missouri’s Republican lawmakers seem perfectly comfortable ignoring that reality if it is convenient or aids in pushing a personal or party agenda.

The most recent litany of exploits involves the gerrymandered map designed to dissolve a Democratic congressional district in order to give Republicans the advantage in commandeering another seat in the 2026 midterm election — all to help the president in his efforts to maintain control of Congress.

The non-stop efforts to force the gerrymandered map down Missourians' throats continue despite:

• A federal judge refusal to rule on a case to block a statewide vote on the gerrymandered districts filed by Attorney General Catherine Hanaway on behalf of Missouri’s Republican leaders.
• The months of wrangling — which continues in the courts — over when the collection of signatures for a statewide petition can be legally started.
• The gathering and filing of over 300,000 signatures, almost three times the required minimum of 110,000, before the deadline.

Despite these actions, perhaps the most brazen of them all in efforts to show that the will of the people be damned, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins declared that the gerrymandered map will go into effect anyway.

He has claimed to have the unilateral authority to declare the referendum to put the gerrymandered map on the November 2026 ballot null and void, even if the requisite signatures to do so are deemed valid.

There are bound to be additional challenges and lawsuits, the outcome of which is anyone’s guess. It all seems so needless if only the rule of law were followed and the will of the majority were allowed to rule.

But the tug of war between lawmakers and those they should be representing is not new with the gerrymandered map issue. It is just the latest battle.

Of particular note is that 62 percent of Missourians passed a constitutional amendment in 2018 known as the Clean Missouri initiative that would have required legislative districts to be drawn to ensure partisan fairness. That sounds right and reasonable, doesn’t it?

Yet in 2021, the legislature put a deceptively worded measure on the ballot to repeal that amendment, which garnered 51 percent of the vote. The Clean Missouri initiative never went into effect.

What we have instead is the practice and pattern of lawmakers going through extraordinary measures to obfuscate, block or undue laws and measures supported and passed by the people.

In a previous column, I addressed many of those instances. Ignoring or undoing the will of Missourians has occurred in both broad sweeping and nuanced areas.

We need to keep some top of mind.

This year, we have seen sick pay leave that was overwhelmingly approved by Missouri voters and the cost-of-living minimum wage adjustments undone by the governor with the stroke of a pen.

In 2024, Missouri voters approved access to legal abortions as an option in reproductive health-care services. The Republican-controlled legislature has since passed a measure to put the issue back on the ballot in 2026, in an effort to make abortion illegal again.

Voters approved Medicaid expansion in 2020, only to see the legislature block funding. After several legal battles, the measure finally took effect in late 2021.

Other laws and measures have been pursued and passed that ignore or undo the will of Missouri citizens in recent years. A majority of Missourians are against state control of city police departments, discrimination by landlords against renters who receive public assistance, and other measures that negatively impact the daily lives of fellow Missourians.

The Trump administration has made disregarding the Constitution, the rule of law and rights of Americans normal operating procedure.

But the Republican-controlled Missouri legislature’s actions over the years show that the seeds of oligarchal or authoritarian rule have existed all along.

What does it mean?

Clearly, it means that only lip-service or a passing nod is given to the democratic rules, laws and processes that govern ballot measures, determining the will of the majority vs. the tyrannical rule of the few.

More importantly, there is a consistent message being sent that voters do not know which policy measures are in the best interests of their family, community or state.

To add insult to injury, those same legislators must believe that voters also have short memories and will continue to vote for them, or those of like minds, in election cycle after election cycle.

The questions we should ask ourselves are:

• Why do we go along with such behavior, year after year?
• Why are we comfortable with the actions of the few — would-be oligarchs, authoritarians, or their puppets — ruling the day and determining how our state will be governed?

Forcing the gerrymandered map down our throats is the latest usurpation of the laws and rights of Missourians in a line of many in recent years.

What will it take to make it the last?

• Janice Ellis lives in Missouri and has been an executive in both government and the private sector. She has written commentary for more than four decades, which has appeared on radio, in news publications across the country and online. She is an award-winning author of six books and holds a Ph.D. and two Master of Arts degrees from the University of Wisconsin.