Missouri Democratic Insider: February 10, 2024
This Week in Review: Good Week For Abortion, Cruelty, Open Misogyny
Abortion Rights Campaign Kicked Off Signing Events
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom kicked off a statewide training and signing event on Tuesday, February 6. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade & Minority Whip Ashley Aune were among the first to sign the petition to restore abortion rights in Missouri.
The Missouri Democratic Party is gearing up to support our democratic priorities this year and will be collecting signatures to restore abortion rights. You can sign up to volunteer for this effort here:
Sign Up To Volunteer w/ the MDP
GOP State Legislators Said A Lot Of Insane Things
Kansas City Star: ‘God is perfect.’ Missouri Republicans unwilling to amend near-total abortion ban
“When Missouri Senate Republicans brought a bill this week to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid dollars, Democratic Sen. Tracy McCreery offered amendments aimed at loosening the state’s near-total ban on abortion.
The amendments would have allowed abortions in cases of rape and incest. Missouri law makes no exception for those situations. McCreery, from the St. Louis area, said the state went too far in banning abortion in nearly all instances.
But Sen. Sandy Crawford, a Buffalo Republican, pushed back. “God is perfect,” Crawford said on the Senate floor. “God does not make mistakes and for some reason he allows that to happen. Bad things happen.”
St. Louis Post- Dispatch: Senate Republicans block rape and incest exceptions for Missouri abortion ban
“You want to bring back the institution of abortion so that kids can get abortions in the state of Missouri,” Eigel said to Beck.
“A 1-year-old could get an abortion under this,” Eigel said.“I don’t know that a 1-year-old could get pregnant, senator,” Beck said.
“You’re OK with forced birth of a child being raped, right?” Beck asked Eigel.
Missouri Independent: Republicans block attempt to add rape, incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban
“The Senate debated a bill Wednesday evening sponsored by state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold, that would change Missouri law to make Planned Parenthood ineligible to receive reimbursements from MO HealthNet, the state’s Medicaid program.”
Kansas City Star: Missouri women can’t get divorced while pregnant. Bill would undo ‘archaic loophole’
“But if the legislation passes the House it could face an uphill battle in the Senate, which has been gripped by GOP infighting.
Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican, said in an interview that he would support allowing divorces in cases of domestic violence, but was not in favor of closing the loophole that prevents pregnant women from getting divorced.
“I think that those would be very rare and infrequent circumstances,” Hoskins, who is a member of the hard-right Missouri Freedom Caucus, said of divorces in cases of domestic violence.
“Just because the husband and wife are not getting along, or irreconcilable differences, I would not consider that that would be a good reason to get divorced during a pregnancy.”
Anti-Choice Initiative Petition Withdrawn
The Missouri Independent reports the opposing, anti-choice ballot campaign has withdrawn the initiative petition.
“But in recent weeks, a competing ballot effort has picked up steam, raising more than $4 million and launching statewide paid signature gathering efforts. That campaign, called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, is seeking to legalize abortion up to the point of fetal viability.
“We formed this organization because we want to restore access to abortion, and having two initiatives on the ballot is a sure-fire way to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Corley said in an interview with The Independent. “We don’t want to be a spoiler.”
Corley, who launched her campaign in November, will also dismiss a pending lawsuit against Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft challenging his ballot summary and fiscal note as unfair and inaccurate.”
ICYMI: MDP Executive Director Matthew Patterson Joined STLPR To Talk Presidential Primary
Republican state lawmakers “eliminated the primary in 2022 and instead placed political parties in charge of the process for divvying up presidential delegates. Before 2022, local election officials, such as county clerks and election authorities, were in charge of running presidential primaries.
During Friday’s episode of The Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, Missouri Democratic Party Executive Director Matthew Patterson and GOP political activist Chris Grahn-Howard talked about how the state’s political parties are trying to make the best of the situation.
One of the proponents of getting rid of the primary was Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who told St. Louis Public Radio last month that he had concerns about the cost and purpose of the contest because there was nothing tying the delegates to the primary vote.”
Ballot Request Period Open to Participate in MDP’s Party-Run Presidential Primary
Support the MDP’s efforts to organize around the presidential primary and kick the 2024 election cycle off strong!
Want to Run for Office?
Missouri Democrats need candidates in several key districts and across the state. If you or someone you know is interested in running for state house or just wants to know more about what running would be like, fill out this form to get more information or to sign up to run.
UPCOMING EVENTS
February 10, 2024: Jean Carnahan Memorial Service
A public memorial service be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, February 10, at The Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Avenue in St. Louis. This event will be live-steamed for guests that cannot be physically present.
Streaming Link: https://vimeo.com/event/
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are requested to the Carnahan Policy Institute, which sponsors the Mel Carnahan Public Service Award and Scholarship, helping students and recognizing individuals who have improved the lives of Missourians through a commitment to education, law or public service. Donations can be made online at https://carnahanaward.org/
February 24-25, 2024: SIGN UP FOR CAMP CARNAHAN
Missourians who want to run for office or work on Democratic candidate or issue campaigns are invited to sign up for an in-depth training program to equip participants with the skills necessary to win elections. A relaunch of the successful program that has trained over 800 political staff and candidates, Camp Carnahan will be held February 24 & 25, 2024 in Jefferson City, Missouri.
The cost to attend Camp Carnahan is $35 or $25 for students/ seniors and includes membership with the Missouri Democratic Party. Camp Carnahan will provide meals, a workbook pdf sent to each camper, interactions with Democratic elected officials, and an invitation to join our job bank. Trainings will be led by some of Missouri’s most talented campaign professionals and participants may have opportunities to meet and train with prominent national campaigners and political professionals.
What is Camp Carnahan?
Camp Carnahan was started in 1997 by Governor Mel Carnahan and has grown into an important component of the Missouri Democratic Party infrastructure that has successfully trained over 800 campaign professionals across the state. Camp Carnahan will offer participants 3 different learning tracks, each to include lectures and simulations led by campaign professionals from across the country. Participants will be divided into these tracks and then teams, and will compete against each other in a hands-on campaign exercise. The winning teams will be awarded prizes at the end of the day on Sunday.
Tracks include:
Track 1: How to be a Better Candidate
Track 2: Introduction to Campaign Management for Future Paid Professionals
Track 3: Issue Advocacy and Organizing
Feb 9th: Greene County Democrats Annual Chili Supper
Feb 13th: Boone County Democrats Annual Chili Supper
Thanks to your surge of donations, we kicked off our coalition campaign to restore abortion rights in Missouri with power and momentum — so much so that MAGA Republicans are scared enough to try to change the rules to make it harder for our initiative to pass.
This unpatriotic attempt to take power away from voters is a tactic lifted directly from the Republican playbook in Ohio. It is a clear signal that there is absolutely no limit to what MAGA Republicans will do to destroy our democracy and take away essential freedoms.
Republicans love to talk a big game about freedom and keeping the government out of our lives, but their actions here tell a far darker story.
Our country was founded because we didn’t like taxation without representation, but that’s exactly the future MAGA Republicans will create if they succeed in taking away power from voters to determine our future.
Missouri Republicans are taking the most extreme positions possible and could care less that voters don’t like their attacks on women. MAGA Republicans aligned with Josh Hawley just killed an amendment that would have allowed exceptions in the case of rape and incest.
Sadly, frauds like Josh Hawley use words like freedom but only care about power — which became even more apparent this week when Hawley came out against an immigration reform bill despite fear mongering on the issue for years.
Hawley and the unAmerican extremists he runs with care more about playing politics than solving problems, and we can’t trust them to defend our freedom.
Onward,
Matthew
