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On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, state Rep. Bill Hardwick talks about fallout from the 2023 legislative session and what next year may bring.

Hardwick is an attorney who was first elected to the Missouri House in 2020. The Waynesville Republican represents a portion of Pulaski County, including Fort Leonard Wood.

Here’s what Hardwick discussed on the show:

• How the last week of session may have been disappointing to some lawmakers but also how a difficult legislative process may actually be a good thing since it forces legislators to sell ideas to a wide array of people.
• Why he supports legislation that would bar some transgender minors from access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Hardwick also explained why he is not in favor of limiting gender-affirming care to adults.
• Why lawmakers failed to send a measure making the Missouri Constitution more difficult to amend to voters. He said he expects that issue to reemerge during the 2024 session but added that proponents of raising the threshold could face a skeptical electorate.
• With 2024 just around the corner, Hardwick provided his early assessment of how the GOP primary for governor is shaping up among Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and possibly state Sen. Bill Eigel of St. Charles County.
• Whether an acrimonious primary could help a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful like House Minority Crystal Quade of Springfield in November 2024.

Hardwick was the city prosecutor for St. Robert. He is a lieutenant colonel in the Missouri National Guard.

He’s the chairman of the House Emerging Issues Committee, which handled legislation on such matters as sports wagering and regulations around rural hospitals.

The latest episode of Politically Speaking features St. Charles County Prosecutor Joe McCulloch talking about his priorities for the job and how his office plans to help the new St. Louis circuit attorney.

McCulloch was recently appointed prosecutor after Tim Lohmar resigned. He previously served on the St. Charles County Council and as a municipal judge. He’s the brother of former St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch.

Here’s what McCulloch had to say on the program:

• McCulloch is a former police officer who became a lawyer somewhat later in life. He discussed how that experience helped him prepare to become St. Charles County prosecutor.
• Why he left the Democratic Party, which he said was primarily due to how the party dealt with law enforcement policy. McCulloch was a Democrat while serving on the county council in the 2000s.
• How he’ll approach efforts to stem drug abuse. 
• His plans to work with St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, who defeated his brother in 2018.

McCulloch was one of 11 people who applied to become prosecutor after Lohmar’s resignation. St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann appointed him to the post, and the county council unanimously approved the selection.

McCulloch said he plans to run to fill out the rest of Lohmar’s term next year.

Despite being in the super minority in both chambers, Missouri Democrats left this past legislative session with a few things to celebrate.

Some of the largest victories, said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, are within the state budget. Quade also said Democrats were able to take advantage of Republican infighting and stop bills they didn’t want to see passed.

Quade was the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast and offered not only her thoughts on the latest legislative session, but also on why she says state Democrats are looking at a big opportunity in the 2024 election cycle.

Here’s what Quade talked about on the show:

• Why she believes Republicans were unable to accomplish all of their goals, despite having a supermajority in both chambers.
• What she sees as major budget wins for Democrats, including increasing pay for home care workers and fully funding school transportation.
• Why she believes it was so important to restore state library funding after House Republicans initially tried to cut it, as well as why she thinks she got so many calls from concerned residents on the issue.
• The lack of action this session on legislation aiding access to child care in the state and what she would like to accomplish on that front.
• Legislation passed this year that restricts transgender minors’ access to gender-affirming health care such as puberty blockers and hormone treatment and whether she believes Republicans will try to expand those restrictions to include transgender adults.

Quade was first elected to the House in 2016. She was elected minority leader after the 2018 election and was reelected to her post in 2020.

While the minority leader is less powerful than the speaker, Quade appoints her fellow Democrats to serve on standing committees and make recommendations on who serves on special committees. She will no longer serve in the House due to term limits after next year and is weighing a run for governor.

The latest episode of Politically Speaking features U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt discussing his initial impressions of federal legislative service and the ongoing standoff over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

After serving as a state senator, state treasurer and attorney general, Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate last year to succeed Roy Blunt. He currently serves on the Senate Armed Services and Commerce committees.

Here’s what Schmitt talked about during the show:

• How he is one of several GOP senators who oppose raising the debt ceiling without major changes to federal spending policies. While that stance clashes with President Joe Biden and the Democratic majority in the Senate, Schmitt said he’s optimistic that a deal will be beneficial toward curbing spending.
• His initial impressions of serving in the Senate. This marks the first time Schmitt has ever served in the political minority, limiting his ability to enact his policy goals. But since the Senate is closely divided, Schmitt says there are still opportunities to make an impact, including on presidential nominations.
• His legislation aimed at reducing administrative rules that come out of federal agencies. The bill would require administrative agencies that issue a new regulation to repeal three existing regulations before the new one takes effect.
• His bill that would remove what’s known as Section 230 protections for technology companies if they are found to be “colluding with the government to censor speech.” Section 230 provides general immunity to technology companies for third-party content generated by users.

Schmitt is an attorney who was first elected as a state senator in 2008. After reaching his term limit in 2016, he successfully ran for state treasurer and served in that post until Gov. Mike Parson appointed him attorney general in early 2019.

After winning a full term as attorney general, Schmitt entered a crowded primary to succeed Blunt. His main rivals were former Gov. Eric Greitens and then-Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler. Schmitt emerged victorious in the GOP primary and went on to soundly defeat Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine in the 2022 general election.

Tom Oldenburg doesn’t plan to stay an alderman forever.

“I don’t have any aspirations beyond the city of St. Louis. That is a fact,” he said. “But there’s always the itch in the back of my mind to stay as an urbanist and go citywide.”

But when the 2023 election cycle rolled around, he decided his experience was needed in the Board of Aldermen chambers to make the transition to 14 aldermen – “effectively a new government” – easier.

Even though the job of alderman now pays $72,000, Oldenburg plans to remain in his role as a vice president at US Bancorp Community Development Corporation, which is permitted under the new pay bill.

“I think that’s wisdom for the founding fathers and mothers of our city that have said, ‘We want aldermen to seek other employment so they can bring their subject matter expertise to the board,’” he said.

Here’s what else Oldenburg discussed on Politically Speaking:

• How his role at the development corporation enables him to understand the difficulty involved in bringing financing together for economic development. “It’s hard work,” he said. “You have to gain the trust of the sponsors of a particular project, the trust of the community where the given project is, and you’ve got to move all those folks together in a collaborative way that produces a project at the end of the day that creates tax revenue for cities but also has a deeper community impact.”
• Oldenburg was one of two aldermen eligible to chair permanent committees who were not chosen to do so. “It was unexpected. But look, the rules changed,” he said. And he added that he’s happy with his assignments on the budget and public safety committees.
• Even though he was not chosen to chair a permanent committee, Oldenburg has been asked to lead a special committee on reducing red tape in the city. While he jokes that the most boring politicians always get the good government assignments, a self-deprecating reference to Al Gore’s 1993 commission on red tape, he said there is a lot of work to do. “I think there’s alignment with my colleagues and with the president’s priorities and the mayor’s priorities, quite frankly, around how do we grow wealth, particularly how do we grow BIPOC and Black wealth,” he said.