Archive for October 2020

Democrat Betsy Dirksen-Londrigan is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. She spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Eric Schmid and Jaclyn Driscoll about her bid against U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, which includes a portion of the Metro East.

Dirksen-Londrigan ran against Davis in 2018, narrowly losing to the incumbent Republican by 2,058 votes. The race is again expected to be close on Nov. 3. Davis handily won re-election in 2014 and 2016 by nearly 20 percentage points each time.

Here’s what Dirksen-Londrigan talked about during the program.

• Why she’s running to unseat Davis for a second time.
• The status of the Affordable Care Act and her support of “Medicare-X,” which would add a public option to the health care marketplaces.
• The national response to the coronavirus pandemic and her vision for how the federal government can help Americans make it to the other side of the pandemic.
• College costs and her ideas for how to make higher education more affordable

Dirksen-Londrigan was born and raised in Springfield. She was formerly a teacher and the director of Alumni Affairs at the University of Illinois in Springfield. She also worked on downstate fundraising for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

Davis appeared on Politically Speaking earlier this month.

Follow Jaclyn Driscoll on Twitter: @DriscollNPR

Follow Eric Schmid on Twitter: @EricDSchmid

Follow Betsy Dirksen-Londrigan on Twitter: @BetsyforIL

Music: “On the Loose” by Europe

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he spoke to St. Louis Public Radio’s Jaclyn Driscoll and Jason Rosenbaum about his campaign for a full four-year term.

Parson became governor in June 2018 after ascending to the post from the lieutenant governorship following Eric Greitens’ resignation. He easily won a GOP primary earlier this year and is squaring off against state Auditor Nicole Galloway in one of the most competitive gubernatorial elections in the nation.

Republican and Democratic groups that aid their respective gubernatorial candidates have sent millions of dollars to political action committees aligned with Parson and Galloway. The Democratic Governors Association has given more than $5 million to a Galloway-backed PAC, while the Republican Governors Association has provided about $12.5 million to a Parson-aligned PAC.

Galloway recently recorded an episode of Politically Speaking that can be heard here.

Here’s what Parson talked about on the show:

• Why Missourians should choose him over Galloway. He also touched on whether a lower margin of victory for President Donald Trump in the state would hurt his chances.
• His administration’s response to COVID-19, as well as a plan to roll out vaccines to combat the virus throughout 2021. Both Parson and his wife Teresa contracted the virus, but made full recoveries.
• During the August primary, Missouri voters chose to expand Medicaid under the auspices of the Affordable Care Act. Parson opposed that initiative, but talked about how he would follow through on it if he’s elected.
• His administration’s approach to violent crime, including whether he should have added measures aimed at bolstering police accountability to the recent special session. He also discussed what the state government should do to address economic and education racial inequities.

Parson is a U.S. Army veteran, businessman and farmer who became Polk County’s sheriff in 1993. After more than a decade in that role, Parson successfully ran for the Missouri House in 2004 to represent a heavily Republican district that includes a portion of southwest Missouri.

Parson captured a state Senate seat in 2010, and was re-elected in 2014. He briefly ran for governor in the 2016 election, but eventually chose to seek the lieutenant governorship instead. He won a bruising Republican primary against Bev Randles before easily dispatching former Democratic U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan in the general election.

Parson had served as lieutenant governor for a little more than a year before the Greitens scandal broke.

If Parson defeats Galloway on Nov. 3, he will be able to serve as governor through early 2025. But because of the way constitutional term limits for the governorship are structured, he will be ineligible to run for another four years in office.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jaclyn Driscoll on Twitter: @DriscollNPR

Follow Mike Parson on Twitter: @mikeparson

Music: “The Impression That I Get” by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about his reelection campaign.

Ashcroft was first elected to the statewide post that monitors elections, securities and libraries in 2016. He’s running against Democrat Yinka Faleti, who recorded an episode of Politically Speaking earlier this year.

Since the four other Republicans running for statewide offices either ascended to or were appointed to their posts, Ashcroft is the only GOP hopeful running for a second term in the office he was elected to in 2016.

Here’s what Ashcroft discussed during the show:

• The complexities of overseeing elections during the COVID-19 era, which included having to move this year’s slate of municipal contests to June.
• A new law that expands absentee and mail-in voting this year. Ashcroft explained why he opposed the measure.
• Whether there should be changes to the ballot initiative petition process, specifically if there should be a higher threshold for constitutional amendments to go into effect. Currently, constitutional amendments only require a simple majority to pass.
• Some of the nonelection parts of his job, including regulating securities and helping out local libraries.

Ashcroft is the son of John Ashcroft, who is the only Republican to ever be elected to two consecutive gubernatorial terms in office, and who also served as a U.S. senator and U.S. attorney general.

Jay Ashcroft first ran for office in 2014, where he lost to Democrat Jill Schupp in the race for the 24th Senate District seat. He came back two years later and won a competitive GOP primary before defeating Robin Smith by a wide margin to become secretary of state.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jay Ashcroft on Twitter: @jayashcroftmo

“There’s No Crying Over Me Either” by American Wrestlers

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about his re-election campaign.

Ashcroft was first elected to the statewide post that monitors elections, securities and libraries in 2016. He’s running against Democrat Yinka Faleti, who recorded an episode of Politically Speaking earlier this year.

Since the four other Republicans running for statewide offices either ascended to or were appointed to their posts, Ashcroft is the only GOP hopeful running for a second term in the office he was elected to in 2016.

Here’s what Ashcroft discussed during the show:

• The complexities of overseeing elections during the COVID-19 era, which included having to move this year’s slate of municipal contests to June.
• A new law that expands absentee and mail-in voting this year. Ashcroft explained why he opposed the measure.
• Whether there should be changes to the ballot initiative petition process, specifically if there should be a higher threshold for constitutional amendments to go into effect. Currently, constitutional amendments only require a simple majority to pass.
• Some of the non-election parts of his job, including regulating securities and helping out local libraries.

Ashcroft is the son of John Ashcroft, who is the only Republican to ever be elected to two consecutive gubernatorial terms in office, and who also served as a U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General.

Jay Ashcroft first ran for office in 2014, where he lost to Democrat Jill Schupp in the race for the 24th District Senate seat. He came back two years later and won a competitive GOP primary before defeating Robin Smith by a wide margin to become secretary of state.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jay Ashcroft on Twitter: @jayashcroftmo

“There’s No Crying Over Me Either” by American Wrestlers

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt was one of three statewide officeholders appointed to their roles by Gov. Mike Parson. He took over for Josh Hawley after Hawley won his U.S. Senate race in 2018.

Schmitt joined St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann and Jason Rosenbaum to talk about the work he’s done to combat violent crime and expand testing of sexual assault kits, his lawsuits against China and the Affordable Care Act, and how Donald Trump’s margin of victory might impact his race.

You can find an episode with Schmitt’s Democratic opponent, Rich Finneran, here.

Here’s some of what Schmitt discussed on the podcast:

• How his partnership with federal prosecutors known as Safer Streets will reduce violent crime in St. Louis and Kansas City. “For witnesses to come forward, they got to know that you’ve got prosecutors lined up, that when they charge this case, they’re actually going to move forward and they can get convictions,” he said.
• He defended his efforts to intervene in the case against Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who have pleaded not guilty to two low-level felonies after pointing guns at protesters on their street in June. Though Schmitt is not their attorney, he has filed a motion to have the case dismissed, because he said, “I think it’s a very dangerous precedent that people across the state or in the city of St. Louis could feel that they would potentially go to jail for exercising their fundamental right of self-defense.”
• He’s paying close attention to the 15th Senate District race between incumbent Republican Andrew Koenig and former state Rep. Deb Lavender. It would be bad for St. Louis County, he said, to not have Republican representation in a supermajority Republican chamber.

Follow Rachel on Twitter: @rlippmann

Follow Jason on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Eric Schmitt on Twitter: @eric_schmitt

Music: “Training Montage” from the Rocky IV soundtrack, by Vince DiCola