Kansas City, Mo – At Saturday’s State Committee Meeting in Jefferson City, The Missouri Democratic Party sent a strong message by electing Russ Carnahan as its next chair. “The encouragement from rural and urban party leaders on the State Committee and from many of our top Federal, State, and Local elected leaders has convinced me that together we can do this. My first job is to listen. And I’m a good listener. Then, build our bottom-up organizing and networking to deliver the Democratic message from local candidates and leaders in every district. From the top down, we can put that organization to work and market it across Missouri and the country. I believe supporters will want to INVEST in a smart unified plan for the Missouri Democratic Party.” Carnahan immediately assumes duties as chair.
A former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Russ Carnahan most recently was an early prominent leader for the 2020 Biden campaign where he served as an outside adviser. From 2005-2013, Carnahan represented Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, including urban and rural areas in the St. Louis region. He served in a number of leadership roles, including as Senior Democratic Whip from 2009-13 and Co-Chair of the bipartisan Center Aisle Caucus focused on common sense solutions for both political parties. Carnahan was selected as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations and received a Presidential Appointment from the Obama/Biden Administration as Congressional Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. He also served on the U.S. House of Representatives committees for Transportation & Infrastructure; Science & Technology; and Veterans Affairs. Carnahan began his career in public service when he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2000. He was Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and Deputy Majority Whip.
In addition to electing Carnahan as chair, the State Committee elected Yvonne Reeves Chong as the Vice Chair. The vice-chair position became vacant after the resignation of Michael Butler on March 1, 2023. Reeves-Chong is “We are a united party! I am ready to move our Party forward and will by decision and determination,” Reeves Chong said. “Our differences are our strengths.” Yvonne is a strong rural Democrat who lives in Pulaski County, near Fort Leonard Wood. She is a 35-year sales manager at a motorcycle dealership. Reeves-Chong smiled saying “she doesn’t ride, only sales!”
The Democratic Insider:
The 2024 Initiative and Referendum Petitions have been Filed
The Missouri Secretary of State page contains a list of all initiative and referendum petitions filed with the Secretary of State’s Office during the 2024 election cycle and the status of each petition.
Each petition is categorized as one of the following:
Accepting Comments: All public comments will be reviewed by the Secretary of State’s Office.
Rejected: The petition did not satisfy all legal requirements and is no longer under consideration.
Withdrawn: The petition was removed from consideration at the request of the petitioner.
Comments Closed: The petition is still under review, but comments are no longer being accepted.
Approved to Circulate: The petition has received final approval and signatures can be collected.
Initiative petitions restoring the right to an abortion in the State of Missouri have been filed! Click here to read the proposed constitutional amendments. (Scroll down until you see Missourians for Constitutional Freedom – the group who filed the petitions.)
Also on this page, you can submit your comments regarding any or all of the petitions to the Secretary of State’s page, and MDP strongly encourages you to do so!
Democratic Legislative Network!
We’re excited to team up with Missouri House Democrats to build a stronger Democratic Legislative Network!
We invite you to join us on Mondays at 7:00 p.m. to hear from legislators, get #MoLeg updates, and action items for you to take to make a difference. Sign up here
JOIN THE PARTY
Become a Missouri Democratic Party Member today!
We need you to invest in our Party! With your support we can build our county parties, foster relationships with community organizations, support our legislators in Jefferson City as they fight for us, and provide candidates with training and resources. Click here to join!
For more information, email Info@missouridems.org.
Biden issues executive order aimed at reducing gun violence: “It’s common sense”
Thursday, President Biden announced an Executive Order to reduce gun violence and make our communities safer.
The Executive Order aims to:
• Increase the number of background checks conducted before firearm sales, moving the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation
• Keep more guns out of dangerous hands by increasing the effective use of “red flag” laws
• Strengthen efforts to hold the gun industry accountable
• Accelerate law enforcement efforts to identify and apprehend shooters
Thank you President Joe Biden for your steadfast commitment to save our communities.
Read more at: CBS News
Platte County Democrats Central Committee
Music & Mimosas
Them Platte County Democrats Central Committee held its Music & Mimosas Event on Sunday. The Committee posted the following on its Facebook page: It was a great turnout, lots of wonderful people, good food and beautiful music from KC youth Jazz. Thank you to Chair Meredith Peace, for all her hard work and to our Platte County State Reps. Ashley Aune & Jamie Johnson. Also, a big thank you to Jess Piper For Missouri & Lucas Kunce for coming to speak to the crowd and helping move Platte Co. & MO forward!
Sanofi Plans to Cut the Price of Insulin
The company is the third of the three major insulin manufacturers t
hat dominate the U.S. market to announce such a move this month.
Facing pressure to follow a wave of industry price cuts, the drug maker Sanofi said on Thursday that it would reduce the sticker price of its most commonly used insulin by 78 percent.
The company said it would also cap, at $35 per month, that product’s out-of-pocket costs for diabetes patients with private health plans.
Sanofi’s moves, which will go into effect at the start of next year, follow similar announcements this month by the two other large insulin manufacturers, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Together, the three companies control about 90 percent of the insulin market in the United States.
The price cuts are likely to reduce how often Americans with diabetes struggle to pay for insulin, which millions depend on to stay alive. A federal law that went into effect at the start of this year had already capped out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 per month for people covered by Medicare.
Read more at: The New York Times
Renewed bipartisan efforts to eliminate the sales tax on grocery food this legislative session have hit roadblocks
Missouri is one of just 13 states that levies a sales tax on grocery food items.
Citing the hefty burden on low-income shoppers and rising cost of food, several other states have moved to reduce the burden of the grocery sales tax. Kansas began phasing it out this year and Illinois suspended the tax for one year.
But in Missouri, renewed bipartisan efforts to eliminate the sales tax on take-home grocery food this session appear stalled.
A stand-alone bill to eliminate the state portion of the grocery sales tax, sponsored by Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, was approved by committee last month but has yet to be placed on the Senate’s debate calendar.
“I’m not as confident that that will have a path forward,” Coleman said in an interview Wednesday with The Independent, adding that typically, bills that haven’t reached the other chamber at this point in session “have a harder time” ultimately passing — although she is “not pessimistic” because it is a bipartisan issue other states have tackled.
Six bills in the House have been filed to eliminate the grocery sales tax but none have been assigned to committee.
Proponents successfully added the grocery tax proposal as an amendment to an unrelated bill two weeks ago in the Senate. But last week, after the estimated cost of eliminating the tax was determined, the bill’s sponsor demanded it be removed, effectively derailing both measures.
Read more at: The Missouri Independent
Attorney Erin Hawley, wife of MO senator, fighting to end FDA approval of abortion pill
Erin Morrow Hawley, an attorney and wife of one of Missouri’s senators, is at the center of a federal lawsuit in Texas that could cancel approval of a common drug used to terminate pregnancies, threatening abortion access in Kansas and across the country. Hawley is one of the key lawyers fighting to end the Food and Drug Administration’s decades-old approval of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in medication abortions, after the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade. Hawley, an appellate attorney who was also involved in that case, is married to Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. Whether or not Hawley and the other attorneys on the Texas case are successful, they are pushing the legal envelope following the end of Roe. Hawley is helping to pioneer a new frontier of abortion litigation targeting existing — sometimes longstanding — laws and regulations that help uphold abortion access. Hawley is senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, which pursues lawsuits on behalf of social conservative causes. ADF helped draft a challenged Mississippi anti-abortion law that led to the decision overturning Roe.
Read more at: The Kansas City Star
UPCOMING EVENTS
Friday, April 14, 2023
5:00 PM – 8:30 PM CT
Springfield DoubleTree By Hilton, 2431 N Glenstone Ave, Springfield, MO 65803
Join the Greene County Democratic Party for the largest and oldest annual gathering of Democrats in the Lower Midwest!
