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Those familiar with the uber-popular book “What’s the Matter with Kansas” might be asking the same of the state’s neighbor to the east, Missouri.

Daily, sometimes even hourly, the news becomes more topsy turvy with Midwest politics. Legal throwdowns over gerrymandering are playing out in the courts. There are real consequences for voters.

Well-versed reporters and the politicians involved remain hyper-vigilant. They have to, just to stay abreast of each new court filing and ruling. The Supreme Court will likely weigh in during the last week of September – making it the third time the highest court has had to act.

There are also rulings by a circuit court, and threats to hold the secretary of state in contempt, and a referendum by the citizens. On the surface, all of this is over two maps.

There is the congressional map that the Republican legislature drew up in 2025 at the direction of President Donald Trump. The goal was to gerrymander and to be brazen about it. No one even tried to hide the objective, which was about capturing more GOP seats in the U.S House.

Then there is the map that was fairly drawn after the last U.S. Census. Redrawing after a census is the standard way redistricting has always been done, relying on updated population statistics to configure district boundaries appropriately.

The GOP wants the seat that has long been held by Democrats, and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who was also formerly a Kansas City mayor.

The average person would need a flow chart to keep track. Thankfully, there are still many fine reporters in the state doing the work to document each court filing, ruling and assessing the outcomes for election officials, and voters.

Basically, lawsuits have piled up, pro and against the gerrymandered map and the various officials that were involved in putting the hyper-partisan action into play.

The ticking calendar is the only thing that will stop the nonsense, for this election cycle at least. Republican leadership has already begun plotting to try again, if they ultimately lose all of the court challenges.

Meanwhile, absentee voting is underway. Ballots have been sent overseas, such as to U.S. citizens who are in the military.

So far it appears voters will revert back to the map used in 2022 and 2024 for the November election. That means that Cleaver will likely retain the seat, as the older map was more representative of the urban populations that he’s long represented, in addition to some rural populations.

The redrawn map was configured to eliminate the more reliably Democratic Kansas City voters from Cleaver’s district.

Fairness, adhering to a non-gerrymandered map, will likely win in Missouri. But it will be a tainted victory. Some Missourians will vote under a different congressional map in November from the one they voted under in August. There is an unfairness to that fact and Democrats acknowledge it, even if it benefits them.

This entire controversy, and all of the ensuing drama, came about because no one will stand up to President Donald Trump. Republicans were willing to undermine voters, the electoral system, even to stomp all over highly ethical election officials who have been put under tremendous pressure. These officials had to be prepared to react to each new ruling that could change the map, and still ensure election integrity.

Here is how the Boone County clerk recently explained her process to the Missouri Independent: “We have to regenerate the entire election because the districts are completely different, so the make-up of the voters is different for each of those ballot styles. I have to reprogram, reproof and create a new order for our vendor for printing, retest the absentee voting machines and get all of that done while absentee voting is happening.”

To hear Republicans talk, you’d think that more liberal and moderate voters in Kansas City and St. Louis do not exist. These members of the GOP lean into the framing that Missouri is deeply a red state, foremost and always, in all of its entirety. That is simply not factual.

But it’s been used as a justification for so much legislation and policies that ultimately wind up being harmful to all communities. Rural communities already struggle with suicides by gunfire, closing hospitals, lack of access to healthcare in general, declining funds for public education, a lack of access to training for the jobs that are hiring, and a range of other issues.

Somehow, in overreaching to protect the GOP as an institution and brand, Republicans forgot that the real job is to represent Missourians, all of them.

(Readers can reach Mary Sanchez at msanchezcolumn@gmail.com and follow her on Twitter @msanchezcolumn.)

©2026 Mary Sanchez. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.