Advanced Query nullifies Dropdown menu

First of all, thanks for making this plugin. It has amazing functionality and looks very professional at the front end. I have made four filters sitting in tabs, using four custom layouts generated through functions.php.

My problem: all the tabs showed the same content at load up (all published posts, sorted by date descending) although the dropdown menu worked as desired.

So I want to show only posts of a certain category in each filter. So I added this query in the Advanced Query box for each of the filters (left to right in front end):

posts_per_page=5&post_type=post&post_status=publish&orderby=date&category_name=questions

posts_per_page=5&post_type=post&post_status=publish&orderby=date&category_name=debates

posts_per_page=5&post_type=post&post_status=publish&orderby=date&category_name=in-committee-2

posts_per_page=5&post_type=post&post_status=publish&orderby=date&category_name=government-statements-2

Result: the four filters only show the latest entries under the desired categories.

New problem: now the dropdown menu has become unfunctional. Selecting any of the taxonomy just refreshes the post list as it was so it seems my Advanced query turns off the dropdown.

I feel like I’m missing a vital step or misunderstanding something fundamental about how the plugin works. Would massively appreciate any suggestion. Thanks!

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