by Janice Ellis, Missouri Independent
August 11, 2025
Carefully assess the actions of Missouri’s governor, Republican members of the state legislature and our Congressional delegation. Then ask yourself: Whose priorities, interests and concerns have they supported, fought for and voted for?
Certainly not those of most Missourians.
Missourians voted for candidates in various elective offices to represent and fight for their interests in Jefferson City and Washington, D.C.
Instead, many of the Republican elected officials seem to have forgotten and folded to the pressure of supporting and carrying out the agenda of the Trump administration, whether it is in the best interest and well-being of Missouri citizens or not.
Look at the behavior of Missouri senators and representatives in Congress. While some bothered to proclaim that Medicaid should not be cut, at the end of the posturing they all went along with approving the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Essentially voting for the cuts in Medicaid funding that will deny tens of thousands of Missourians life-saving services. How many rural hospitals will be affected or forced to close in the coming months and years because of these cuts?
Their actions, or failures to act, are disturbing and disconcerting.
How is it that members of the Missouri congressional delegation can get away with the abdication of carrying out their governance and oversight responsibilities?
When it comes to allowing the Trump administration to usurp Congress’s power and arbitrarily disrupt, disband and defund departments that will negatively impact Missourians. First it was the department of education that was the target, cutting needed funding for school districts.
The most recent is the proposal to decentralize the department of agriculture. Will these changes hurt Missouri farmers, causing them to lose necessary funding and programmatic support? What are the positions of members of the Missouri Congressional delegation?
Our representatives in Congress have been silent and given tacit support to other actions of the Trump administration.
When it comes to the impact of increased tariffs on farmers being able to export their soybeans and other produce, and the higher cost of consumer goods across the board for families already struggling to make ends meet.
When it comes to immigration tactics that disrupt business operations, the workforce in agricultural industries and the lives of innocent family members.
When it comes to the short and long-term effects of taxation policies and the national debt, the burden of which Missourians like all Americans must bear.
When there is no oversight, no checks and balanced guardrails, how can we be confident that the policies and decisions being made will be in our best interest?
The actions of our Republican governor, Republican-controlled state legislature and other government offices are in lock-step with the Trump administration as well.
An executive order adopted and ensured the implementation of dismantling DEI programs throughout governmental departments and agencies, colleges and universities, and wherever the state had authority to issue a mandate. Businesses have been sued by the state attorney general for apparent noncompliance.
What measures are being implemented to ensure that all Missourians are treated equal and have equal access and equal opportunity? A state with a diverse population base, who is helped or hurt?
Republican state legislators in the Senate and House wrote letters urging the Missouri U.S. Senators to pass the “Big Beautiful Bill” irrespective of the negative impacts on their constituents.
The latest influence of President Trump on what goes on in Missouri is his request for the legislature to draw a new map to eliminate one of the two Democratic congressional districts to help ensure that the Republicans maintain the majority in the House after the 2026 midterm elections.
Such a move, if successful, would eliminate the congressional district that represents Kansas City and some adjacent counties, thereby diminishing or negating the impact the representation and vote of a large number of constituents, including large minority groups.
The Republican governor and Republican-dominated legislature are seriously considering calling a special legislative session to make President Trump’s wishes happen.
Congressional districts are usually revisited or redrawn following the U.S. Census taken every 10 years that tracks population shifts and other changes. Redrawing districts mid-cycle or in an off year is solely to provide a political advantage for one party or the other.
Missouri has six Republican and two Democratic Congressional districts.
Every Missourians should think about the meaning of the political move to change that to 7 to 1.
Fundamentally, elected officials, irrespective of their party affiliations, should represent all constituents living within their electoral boundaries despite the racial and ethnic make-up or how they may have voted.
Likewise, representative government means just that. It should represent, as best as possible, all the people it governs.
As there is growing disapproval of President Trump and many of his policies by most recent polls, why are Republican state leaders continuing to bow to the pressure of jumping on an increasingly unpopular Trump agenda?
It behooves each of us to ask a critical question.
Who, among our state Republican elected officials, is standing steadfast to promote, protect and put the priorities of Missourians first amid this national political morass?
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: [email protected].
