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St. Louis mayoral candidate Cara Spencer, currently 20th Ward alderwoman, is the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast. She joined St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann to discuss her plans to fight violent crime, improve regional cooperation and stabilize the city’s budget.

Here’s what Spencer talked about on the show:

• Among her first orders of business will be getting a handle on the city’s financial picture. Past administrations failed to take advantage of a decade of economic growth, she said, which left the city vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic. “We are going to have to ensure that at the end of the day, we are being smart about how we are allocating the funds that we do have,” she said. “And that’s going to take a real understanding of how we deliver city services. We are very archaic with many of the systems we use.”
• The city, Spencer said, will be unable to grow unless violent crime goes down, and that can’t happen until people begin to trust the police again. “And we are going to make sure that we have the tools in place to better serve those marginalized communities.”
• Spencer rose to prominence in 2019 as a fierce opponent of efforts to privatize the operations of St. Louis-Lambert International Airport, but did not entirely rule it out as a part of a strategy for the airport going forward. Any plan, she said, has to recognize Lambert as part of regional transportation infrastructure like the port and the Mississippi River.

Spencer became involved in politics after the city closed the public pool at Marquette Park in 2014. She defeated a longtime alderman in 2015. Before that, she did mathematical modeling for a local health care consulting company.

The three other candidates — utility executive Andrew Jones, Treasurer Tishaura Jones and Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed — have all received invitations to record episodes of Politically Speaking.

Follow Rachel on Twitter: @rlippmann

Follow Cara Spencer on Twitter: @CaraSpencerSTL

Music: “Instrumental #1,” by Seth Ashley

State Rep. Barbara Phifer is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where the Kirkwood Democrat talked to St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about her first couple of weeks in the Missouri General Assembly.

Phifer was elected last year to represent the 90th District after then-Rep. Deb Lavender vacated her seat in an unsuccessful run for the state Senate. Her district includes places like Kirkwood, Glendale, Rock Hill and Oakland.

Here’s what Phifer had to say during the show:

• She detailed her first few weeks in the Missouri House, which began on the day of the insurrection in Washington, D.C., and has included debates over whether to require lawmakers to wear masks in the chamber.
• Why she was the only Democrat who voted to expel state Rep. Wiley Price IV, D-St. Louis, who was censured after being accused of having sex with an intern and trying to cover it up.
• Phifer talked about some of her expectations and priorities for the upcoming session, which will include following through on a constitutional amendment enacting Medicaid expansion.
• She explained some of her longer-term expectations about how House Democrats can make themselves relevant when they are so deep in the legislative minority.

Phifer is a Washington, D.C., native who spent nearly 40 years as a pastor with the United Methodist Church. She’s served as a pastor in churches around Missouri, as well as Montevideo, Uruguay.

Republicans represented the 90th District for many years, until Lavender won the seat in 2014 and was reelected by increasingly large margins. Phifer ended up defeating Republican Rick Perry by more than 13 percentage points — a signal that the Kirkwood area is now firmly aligned with Democrats.

Follow Jason on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Former Missouri state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. The St. Louis Democrat talked with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about some of the highlights of her legislative career now that she has been term-limited out of office.

Nasheed recently completed her eight-year run as the senator for the 5th District, which takes in portions of St. Louis. She is the first person to complete two consecutive four-year terms for the district since J.B. “Jet” Banks. Nasheed also served six years in the Missouri House.

Here’s what Nasheed talked about on the program:

• Her transition from being an activist to a member of the Missouri General Assembly. She noted how being a lawmaker requires building relationships, especially with Republicans who control the General Assembly.
• Nasheed said during her first appearance on Politically Speaking in 2013 that the biggest mistake of her legislative career was voting to overturn campaign finance limits in 2008. She discussed whether a 2016 ballot item reinstating them has been effective at keeping money out of politics.
• Nasheed, who has been a supporter of Tishaura Jones’ St. Louis mayoral bid, gave her take on the upcoming contest.
• She also believes St. Louis is about to go through a monumental political change besides the race for mayor. Nasheed pointed out that the impending reduction of the Board of Aldermen to 14 members will fundamentally alter who gets to make key decisions in city politics.

Nasheed won a House seat in 2006. She also owned a bookstore that was a well-known gathering place for some of the city’s most prominent political players.

She advanced to the Missouri Senate in 2013 after defeating incumbent Robin Wright-Jones in a spirited Democratic primary. She won reelection in 2016, and was unable to run for another term because of term limits. In 2019, Nasheed narrowly lost an election for St. Louis Board of Aldermen President to incumbent Lewis Reed.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jamilah Nasheed on Twitter: @SenatorNasheed

Former state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where the University City Democrat talked with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about her 16 years of service in the Missouri House and Senate.

Chappelle-Nadal resigned in December to take a job with St. Louis County Councilwoman Rita Days, D-Bel Nor. Days was Chappelle-Nadal’s predecessor in the Senate and served as one of her mentors throughout the years.

Here’s what Chappelle-Nadal talked about on the program:

• The effect of her primary battles. Chappelle-Nadal, who represented a highly Democratic district, said facing credible challenges in primaries made her a better legislator, because it required her to be closely in touch with her constituents.
• Her approach toward education policy, which often included walking a fine line among competing interest groups to achieve certain legislative goals. Chappelle-Nadal was heavily involved in crafting legislation changing the state’s school transfer law, which was a major issue when Normandy’s school district lost accreditation.
• Takeaways from being a part of the protest movement that arose after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson. She also discussed the lack of movement on the policy front — and the challenges for some activists who have made the successful jump into the electoral arena.
• Her use of the filibuster and how she managed to wield that procedural maneuver, which stalls legislation, to maximum effectiveness.

After serving as an aide to Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell, Chappelle-Nadal successfully ran for the Missouri House in 2004. She won reelection in 2006 and 2008 before winning a competitive race for the 14th District Senate seat in 2010.

She won reelection to that seat in 2014. Her only electoral loss was in 2016, to U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay. Once she hit term limits in the Missouri Senate, she successfully ran for her final term in the Missouri House.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Maria Chappelle-Nadal on Twitter: @mariachappellen

Say what you will about 2020. One thing this cursed year didn’t do was follow a script.

At the beginning of the year, the big storylines in Missouri and St. Louis politics included what would come of the dormant Board of Freeholders process or whether the Legislature could do much during an election year. Those issues took a back seat to two things that dominated the national conversation: the COVID-19 pandemic and protests over police killing Black people.

The virus and protests for racial equity played a huge role in the last 365 days in Missouri and St. Louis-area politics, as seen in the top stories from St. Louis Public Radio’s political reporters and editors. And even though pretty much everyone wants to see 2020 thrown in a dumpster and lit on fire, there’s little doubt that the consequences from this past year will have a political impact for years to come.

But before we get into the full list, here are some stories that didn’t quite make the cut but were still important:

Honorable mentions

While this list will be Missouri centric, St. Louis Public Radio Metro East reporter Eric Schmid nominated the failure of a bid to reconfigure Illinois’ income tax as a top story. And St. Louis Public Radio Rolla reporter Jonathan Ahl picked the rollout of legal marijuana in the Land of Lincoln on his list. Both of these events will have a big impact on the perennially cash-strapped state.

St. Louis Public Radio’s justice reporter Rachel Lippmann singled out the passage of Proposition D in St. Louis, which institutes so-called approval voting for most of its offices. Not only are the city’s mayor and aldermen running as independents, but the measure allows St. Louis residents to vote for as many candidates as they want in March, ahead of an April runoff election.

Speaking of St. Louis, St. Louis Public Radio political editor Fred Ehrlich chose St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s decision to not run for a second term. There’s little doubt that Krewson inherited a tough situation in a city with declining population, rising crime and finite financial resources. And her departure means a wide-open melee for mayor next year.

St. Louis Public Radio statehouse reporter Jaclyn Driscoll picked a very odd Missouri General Assembly session that featured long breaks because of the COVID-19 outbreak and a number of special sessions to deal with policy and budgetary issues. And St. Louis Public Radio executive editor Shula Neuman selected lawsuits over debtors prisons as a top story.

As for me? All five of my choices for top political stories made the list.

5. The surprising demise of Clean Missouri

In a year full of surprises, perhaps the one that caught both Republicans and Democrats off guard was the passage of Amendment 3 in November.

That constitutional amendment repealed a state legislative redistricting system that was widely known as Clean Missouri. That plan approved in 2018 gave much of the power to a demographer who was empowered to draw House and Senate maps based on a formula stressing competitiveness and partisan fairness. Missouri Democrats saw the system as a way to dig out of their perennial super minority.

But even though opponents of the initiative received millions of dollars from largely left-of-center groups, and the underfunded proponents essentially only had the Farm Bureau to tout their message, Missourians ended up narrowly passing Amendment 3. Many point to the ballot summary that appeals court judges crafted as pivotal, since it described marginal changes to lobbyist gift and donation limits before a simplified description of how the redistricting system changes.

Because Amendment 3 passed, either bipartisan commissions or, more likely, appellate judges will draw House and Senate maps next year. And because the criteria is much different than what was in Clean Missouri, it’s not likely that Democrats will see a significant change in fortunes in the General Assembly.

4. Republicans romp through Missouri elections

In a year defined by a presidential contest that saw Democrats regain the White House, 2020 in Missouri will forever be known as a historic blowout for Republicans.

Despite Democrats’ hope that state Auditor Nicole Galloway would wage a competitive contest, Gov. Mike Parson won one of the most decisive wins for a GOP gubernatorial hopeful in modern history. And all of the Republican statewide officeholders won huge victories over their Democratic adversaries.

Republicans even won races where Democrats invested a lot of money and effort: U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner defeated Democratic state Sen. Jill Schupp in Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, while Republican Sen. Andrew Koenig won decisively over Democratic state Rep. Deb Lavender. The only bright spot for Missouri Democrats was barely taking over a Springfield-based House seat, one of the thinnest silver linings for the party in a general election.

Whether Missouri Republicans can keep this forward momentum going with Donald Trump leaving the political scene is an open question. But Republicans aren’t going to lose meaningful statewide elections anytime soon without major erosion in rural and exurban counties where they are now dominant.

3. After years of advocacy, Medicaid expansion finally passes

So it’s been well established that Missouri Democrats did not have a good 2020. But arguably their biggest policy goal of the past 15 years did make it across the finish line: expanding Medicaid.

Unlike Amendment 3, the August ballot initiative to expand Medicaid under the auspices of the Affordable Care Act followed a familiar pattern with Missouri ballot initiatives. With big donations from hospitals and left-of-center political nonprofit groups, the pro side of the Medicaid expansion swamped opponents with a television ad campaign that dominated a primary season devoid of any meaningful intraparty statewide races.

And since backers of the initiative made their proposal a constitutional amendment, the GOP-controlled Legislature will have a hard time not following through with expanding Medicaid. Major changes could require another ballot initiative to pull off, and that may not come to pass until after Medicaid expansion is implemented.

But Medicaid expansion is about more than just about a win or loss for the state’s political parties. It will have a huge impact on the financial health of hospitals, especially those in rural areas, and be a potential life-changer for working-class Missourians whose income was above the previous eligibility bar.

2. COVID-19 rocks state and local governments

There’s little doubt that COVID-19 touched every facet of human life in 2020. The virus led to widespread disruptions in consumer industries, education, the arts and sports. And it also led to a health care crisis that overwhelmed hospital systems and killed hundreds of thousands of people across the country.

So it’s not surprising that COVID-19 was a dominant aspect of both Missouri and Illinois politics in 2020. It prompted governors, county executives and mayors to take drastic actions in an attempt to curb the virus. Things like whether to mandate masks or place restrictions on restaurants became explosive politics issues, playing a big role in Missouri’s gubernatorial contest and St. Louis County executive’s race.

While Parson’s decision to devolve most of the decision-making power to local jurisdictions didn’t have much of an impact on his political trajectory, the same can’t be said for St. Louis County Executive Sam Page. Despite winning another two years in office, Page’s COVID-19 response engendered lots of criticism. And he’s moving into 2021 without a stable majority of supporters on the county council, placing his ability to move through significant pieces of legislation in serious doubt.

One of the big storylines of 2021 will be how the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines could lead to the dissolution of restrictions and a return to something resembling normalcy. Yet with COVID-19 infections and deaths still at dangerously high levels, the virus will continue to consume policymakers’ attention in the months ahead.

1. Cori Bush makes history in defeating Lacy Clay

Cori Bush’s win in the August Democratic 1st Congressional District primary was monumental. The Florissant Democrat not only marked an end to the history Clay congressional dynasty, but also became the first Black woman and first demonstrator from the Ferguson protest movement to make it to Congress.

But it wasn’t just the groundbreaking nature of Bush’s win that led most of St. Louis Public Radio’s political team to deem her victory over Lacy Clay the political story of the year.

Thanks to Democrats having a slim majority in the U.S. House, Bush, a longtime ally of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, will have a ton of leverage to influence the flow of major legislation. She’ll also get to play a major role in criminal justice-related legislation as a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Bush also has the potential to exert considerable influence in St. Louis-area politics. As Bill Clay noted in a 2012 St. Louis American article, members of Congress play a sizable role in affecting local politics. The elder Clay noted “power emanates politically from a congressional district,” adding that such power and influence lead to Black candidates winning offices for key state legislative and citywide posts. Bush will have the same opportunity to influence city and county politics that Bill and Lacy Clay had.

That’s not to say that Bush will face smooth political and policy sailing. There’s no guarantee that Congress will adopt some of Bush’s desired health care and environmental proposals, especially if Republicans maintain control of the U.S. Senate. And while Lacy Clay is bowing out of the political scene, many officials who received his backing remain in elected office and could emerge as political rivals in the years ahead.

Yet there’s little question that Bush ushered in a new era in St. Louis politics that has the potential to have a seismic impact for years, if not decades, to come — for reasons beyond just the groundbreaking nature of the event itself.

Follow Jason on Twitter: @jrosenbaum