Five Women Running For Office in Missouri Who Need Your Money
Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images News / Getty Images
It’s easy to ignore state politics when your state politicians aren’t actively trying to dismember environmental laws and the social welfare net. (Is that why less than half of the eligible voters in Los Angeles County turned up in 2018? The only thing that was at stake was Democracy, like, whatever, NBD.) As someone who lived in Los Angeles for two decades: I understand the apathy. For the average, employed white person: the coasts have been good to you.
The passion that we (finally!) see on a national level was ignited by the fact that most of us, rightly, think that President Stink Turd needs to go. Even if he does: the erosion of democracy on a state and local level in red states will continue until progressive coastal dwellers reach into their pockets on a regular basis and donate to statewide, and some local, progressive candidates.
That’s how decimated the Democratic Party infrastructure has become on a state-by-state basis. GOP candidates in Missouri have all the deep-pocket donors they need to maintain their dominance. National elections, while vastly important, undercut the discussion we need to have about the long game the GOP played to take out democratic governors and state assemblies.
This is your country. We have to take back all of it, everywhere, or real economic progress, criminal justice reform, and environmental protection will go nowhere. (If you want to see just how true this is: check out these numbers from Missouri’s 2016 election when republicans officially took over all three branches of the statehouse.)
These five women Missouri candidates are important. They are worthy. They are potential saviors for sensible Missourians who are otherwise helpless (and, again, vastly outspent) to stop Koch-funded politicians (like our current appointed governor, Mike “Why Does His Face Look Like a Fallen Omelette?” Parson). They need your $5, $10, $15, or $20.
Nicole Galloway for Missouri Governor
Missouri Auditor and Candidate for Governor, Nicole Galloway
Before the Missouri GOP hijacked our government completely in 2016, Missouri had a two-term Democrat, Jay Nixon, who was defeated by (now resigned and disgraced) Eric Greitens. Nixon served as a moderate bulwark against the GOP-controlled state congress (although they were still able to override at least 13 Nixon vetoes).
Galloway is the single elected Democrat to hold statewide office. Currently our state auditor, she won reelection even when a moderate like Claire McCaskill didn’t. As an auditor, Galloway has been a real fighter, rooting out corruption throughout the state during her first and second terms. Because she already holds an incumbency: her chances are better than anyone else in the state at beating our appointed, anti-choice, pro-gun governor.
There is no earthly way that Missouri democrats will retake either the house or state senate this political season. As a potential governor, Galloway may be powerless (as Nixon was) to stop her riled up rival party from undoing her best efforts, and that would include veto overrides. However, without her: we’re sunk. And she’s being outspent and out fundraised because, in red states, that is our reality.
Galloway is hardly a political climber. Word on the street is that she likes the job she has now, but is stepping into the fray because she knows no one else has the cred, or the popularity, to do it. To put it mildly: she’s taking one for the team.
The Missouri Republican Party is so powerful at this moment in time: democratic reps and senators alike cannot introduce legislation on the floor. Their bills do not make it to committee. Laws are being shotgunned through without normal or reasonable debate. There is no future for worker’s rights, women’s reproductive rights, environmental protections, common sense gun control legislation, privacy laws, and anything else sane and reasonable you could name without a democrat in the governor’s chair. We are incredibly fortunate to have Galloway, a committed public servant with hands-on experience, prepared to do this job.
You have $5 that you can spare for her, and you can spare it right now.
Donate to Nicole Galloway for Missouri Governor HERE
Crystal Quade for Missouri House of Representatives
Missouri Representative Crystal Quade is everything the national media should be paying attention to. She’s an elected official and an unapologetically progressive one from one of the reddest districts in a crimson red state. She is the House Minority Leader, the face of a progressive democratic caucus who doesn’t ever, for five seconds, apologize for her pro-women, pro-choice, pro-gun control views.
She is tireless. She is inspiring as hell. She is young, and her political future is easily one of the brightest in the state right now. Everyone who knows her respects her and almost instantly earns her admiration. (I realize that is absolutely anecdotal, but you’re going to have to trust.)
Her actions speak volumes. Read about her walking out with Springfield, MO students during the national day of gun protests in March of 2018. As quoted in the Springfield News-Leader, this is what she had to say to those students when she stood with them in solidarity:
“I am the generation of Columbine, and I can’t help but wonder what would be if we did what you’re doing today. If we had the guts to stand up and step outside and make our voices heard, would we be where we’re at right now? I don’t know. From my generation to yours, I’m sorry that we didn’t,” she said. “What you’re doing today is amazing. This is going to change things.”
It’s very, very easy to say the words “grassroots candidates” and assume that they just get elected with pixie dust and, uh, grassroots juice. I’ve sat at my fair share of tables in places like San Francisco and New York where people, myself included, have pounded those tables and demanded that the Democratic Party start running and supporting those grassroots candidates or the party will never change.
Those grassroots candidates exist, and they currently hold office. Because this nation only follows the national conversation about national politics: those politicians are routinely, and unjustly, ignored.
Stop pounding. For the love of all that is holy, stop pontificating. Start donating.
Donate to Crystal Quade’s Reelection Campaign HERE.
You should really follow Crystal on her social media platforms because it will honestly give you hope and inspire you to talk more locally and regionally and less nationally. She’s the real deal.
Cori Bush for U.S. House of Representatives
St. Louis Activist, Leader, and Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives Cori Bush
If you live in the city of St. Louis, and you pay any remote attention to activism at all, you know who Cori is. There is a lot you could say (and write) about Cori, but for brevity’s sake: Cori is one of the many post-Ferguson activists who turned her activism into ambitions for public office.
She’s hardly alone, and that list of post-Ferguson activists who now hold office include St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell. She has friends in high places, namely none other than AOC herself, who campaigned locally for Bush when the latter did her best to unseat long-time incumbent Lacy Clay from his Congressional seat during our last campaign cycle. If her name sounds familiar, it may be because you saw her featured, alongside aforementioned Ocasio-Cortez, in the Netflix doc Knock Down the House. While AOC is the only featured victor in that film, Bush, with very little in the way of resources, had a respectable showing during the 2018 primaries.
Clay essentially inherited his seat from his pop, Bill Clay, who served in Congress for over three decades. Congressman Clay is just the kind of incumbent that most democrats like. He’s unquestionably progressive. He supports Medicare for All. He just introduced some very common-sense gun control legislation.
None of that means that Clay Jr. doesn’t stir up controversy amongst progressives when his name gets uttered. The best you can say about Clay is that he votes the right way. The worst, and really fairest, criticism you could hurl his way is that he’s never here. Clay is my rep. He’s had two--that is count them TWO--town halls during the Trump era. I couldn’t tell you a single time he’s participated in a political march or public protest of any kind locally, including protests against Trump, a president he routinely criticizes publicly.
And then there’s the matter of his district. There are parts of it that are really struggling. I also suspect that the reason that Clay has been more hands on during this cycle (when he held the second of his two public town halls) is because of Bush and the pressure her and her campaign have put on him. It’s reasonable to expect he become more of a face in a district that has some of the highest murder rates in the nation.
St. Louis is a progressive city with a democratic mayor and some truly exciting local politicians who are helping to turn a former rust belt capital into a thriving, 21st Century city. When it comes to local senior leadership, we are a bit wanting. Clay, of course, could be the face of that local leadership. I officially question whether or not that’s something that he’s remotely interested in, or whether or not he’d ever show his face publicly if it weren’t for the fact that he has a challenger, two races in a row now, who is a consistent presence and local leader who makes a habit of showing up where and when she knows she’s needed.
If Clay’s unofficial reelection slogan could be “There’s Nothing Wrong with Me”, Bush’s could be “It’s Time for a New Kind of Local Leadership.” Even if her greatest accomplishment is holding Clay accountable in ways that no other local leader has been able to do, she should be lauded for it. Thank her by giving her some of your money now, or, once again, your proclamations about a “more progressive House of Representatives” are otherwise meaningless.
Donate to Cori Bush for U.S. House of Representatives HERE.
Trish Gunby for Missouri House of Representatives
The 99th district encompasses a decent swath of western suburban St. Louis county and is a decidedly purple district. In 2018, this district voted to reelect Senator Claire McCaskill (D), and yet reelected republican state rep Jean Evans. Evans left her seat in early 2019 (seemingly minutes after her reelection) to become the executive director of the Missouri Republican Party. During her campaign, she sent out mailers that included a dubious claim that she was endorsed by the AFL-CIO, which she was not; another word for that is a lie.
The vacant seat will be decided in a special elected this November. Gunby is just the kind of candidate that her republican counterparts are always crowing about. She is a middle-class mom who gave up a career (she’s worked at Citicorp and Purina as a project manager, according to her online bio) to raise two (now grown) sons. Also, worth mentioning: Trish Gunby has actually received all those labor endorsements that her Evans (who has left her seat vacant to take a pay bump as a GOP strategist, just to drive that point home) claimed to have.
In the last election cycle (you’ll see a theme developing here) Evans greatly outspent her opponent. Let’s not let that happen this time. We need Gunby in Jefferson City. While she doesn’t have a political resume, she is a hands-on community activist, working with the St. Louis Area Voter Protect Coalition. Missouri is well-known for bigoted voter ID laws (we needed the courts to strike the latest one down) so voter protection is crucial in this region.
Gunby looks a lot like what you’d want a representative to look like: she lives a simple, modest life and has put in most of her energy outside home and work to work on social justice issues throughout our region.
Help us send her to the state’s capital to do some real good.
Donate to Trish Gunby for Missouri House of Representatives HERE.
Deb Lavender for Missouri Senate
Deb Lavender is easily one of the least controversial figures in Missouri politics. She’s competent, smart, dedicated, and everyone likes her. Elected to the Missouri House in 2014, she has earned the confidence and trust of anyone I’ve ever spoken to about her, and that includes republicans.
She was also elected in a red-leaning purple district, a testament to just how tough of a campaigner she is. Last cycle, she ran unopposed, and used her donations to support other house races in districts throughout the state. She could have sat it out. She could have coasted to an easy reelection victory. After seeing how hard members of the Missouri house have to work to get reelected: I wouldn’t have blamed her. Instead, she worked her ass off for other people, because she believes that’s what’s in everyone’s best interest. Fancy that.
Making the jump from house to senate (Missouri House members are limited to four two-year terms) is a big one. Senate districts are bigger. She’ll need more capital. I’m singling out Representative Lavender not just because of how worthy she is to serve in the State Senate. I’m singling her out because she’s running against the Missouri Senator who pushed the abortion ban through the state senate. His name is Andrew Koenig.
Koenig is not a particularly imaginative politician. He’s a GOP parrot, who runs on a brain-numbing platform of God and guns. If you want to hear him prattle on about his signature legislative achievement (one he wrongly claims would stand legal scrutiny; it didn’t) you can subject yourself to that in this interview.
When Koenig was elected as a state senator in 2016, he did so with a war chest of over a half a million dollars. That’s not a testament to his fundraising skills. That’s a testament to the existing funds in this region for anyone with a pulse who wants to run as a republican. Being that he’s a white Christian male who votes against abortion: he fits the ticket.
This vote is not just about voting out the republican incumbent. It’s also about voting for a true representative of her district and a passionate public servant. Lavender is the kind of politician that if she lived in a more populous state (the St. Louis metro only has two U.S. House districts where the Los Angeles metro has over 20): she would already be sitting in the U.S. Congress.
She has a voting track record that shows she’s more interested in governance than headlines. She shows up, both for her community and members of her party when they are in the campaign trenches. I don’t have enough superlatives to praise how hard-working and committed she is.
She’s not running for Senate because she is interested in expanding her political resume, even if that’s precisely what she deserves. She’s running because she knows she’s the only person who stands a real chance at unseating Koenig. (He is one of the reasons that Missouri remains one of the last states without a prescription drug monitoring program).
Check out this recent profile about her decision to run. (An update to that story: she no longer has a primary opponent.)