OUR NEWS &

Aaron Joseph Metzger is not a career politician. He is a CT technologist who has worked at a Joplin hospital, scanning patients through every emergency that does not wait for daylight. Now he is running as the Democratic candidate for Missouri House District 161. Missi Hesketh is not a politician who came to southwest Missouri to run for office. She is from here. With elections around the corner, Missouri voters need to know the dates, deadlines, and requirements before the

Doniphan is a town of roughly 1,800 people in one of the poorest counties in Missouri, where nearly 1 in 3 residents lives below the poverty line, the nearest hospital closed in 2018, and every elected official who represents them is a Republican who has voted for policies that make their lives harder. In 2026, that can change. This guide tells you exactly what is at stake, who is running, what the Republicans have done to this community, and why the Democrats challenging the

Aaron Joseph Metzger is not a career politician. He is a CT technologist who has worked the night shift at a Joplin hospital for 13 years, scanning patients through car wrecks, heart attacks, strokes, and every emergency that does not wait for daylight. Now he is running as the Democratic candidate for Missouri House District 161, which covers most of Joplin north of the Newton County line.

Missouri Republicans, at direct instruction from †rump, have gerrymandered a Black congressman's district out of existence, put the abortion rights voters just won up for repeal, and are now trying to make sure citizens can never use the ballot initiative process to fight back again. This is the 2026 playbook. And Missouri is ground zero.