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Missourinet

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You are here: Home / Archives for Missouri Democratic Party

Missouri DNC delegates begin a new age of convention gatherings

August 21, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

In previous years, party presidential convention-goers would be arriving home across the nation, laden down with candidate swag, tired, yet inspired from the previous week’s events.

This week, multi-location broadcasts, zoom meetings, and highly-produced video packages allowed most delegates and party leaders to sit back and enjoy the show.

With the delegation’s hotel being two hours away at a Chicago airport, there was no travel and “wait-in-line’ time for events.

This is far more accessible than past conventions,” said Andrew Storey, the Missouri Democratic Party’s communications and delegate director.

Biden supporters got to see their candidate in person in Kansas City in March of 2020, before the COVID-19 outbreak. (photo: Trey Byrd)

It’s also far less expensive than past conventions. Delegates have had to pay for their own travel, hiked hotel rates, and much of the food costs, amounting to thousands of dollars at the end of the week.

But delegates are missing out on the perks of being in-person: meeting counterparts from across the nation, shaking hands with the candidates, and previewing up-and-coming party stars at daily breakfast gatherings.

Delegate Ashley Bland Manlove, a state lawmaker from Kansas City, told Missourinet she was “hurt that it’s all virtual.”

“I was really looking forward to networking and getting to know other legislators,” Manlove said.

Daily caucuses of party subgroups were Zoom calls.

“You can’t really let ten thousand people on a Zoom call have a conversation. So it’s more of sitting in on leaders talking and submitting questions,” observed Chimene Schwach, a Biden delegate from Boone County.

Schwach, who identifies herself as a “mother of boys,” says she is still proud to have been a delegate.

“And that they see that their mother, who is a mixed-race woman, can get-up and have a seat at the table and be heard and be listened to without being called names — and I can keep it civil,” she told Missourinet.

Civility from party leaders and the Biden camp was an important takeaway for Bernie delegate Robert Cesario from Rolla. In 2016, there were disagreements and tension between the Sanders and Clinton camps as they crowded together on the convention floor and met behind closed doors.

“I think the Biden campaign has done a much better job of welcoming the Bernie delegates and the whole Bernie campaign and has made a real serious effort at trying to help produce a unified party,” said Cesario. “We’re somewhat disappointed that some things we think a majority of Democrats want to see on a platform are not there — particularly Medicare for all.”

Cesario was relieved to see the convention go virtual for the safety of the delegates and the host city.

“And as a result…the Democratic National Convention is not going to be a super-spreader as opposed to some other well-known rallies in the past few months.”

The delegates and party leaders we interviewed continue to say conventions may be permanently changed after this

I think this will have some lasting effects on how we do campaigns, conventions, and how we’ll do all of this in the future,’ Storey said, “and in the fiscal ramifications as well, I think this opens it up for a lot of different people. This is our first time doing it; things are only going to get better the more practice we have doing this.”

Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: 2020 Democratic Convention, DNCC, Missouri Democratic Party

Medicaid expansion is top priority for Missouri Democratic Party’s new acting chair (AUDIO)

July 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Democratic Party’s new acting chair is focusing on the August Medicaid expansion ballot measure and the November elections.

Former State Rep. Clem Smith, D-Velda Village Hills, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on May 18, 2018 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Former State Rep. Clem Smith, D-Velda Village Hills, was elected to the Missouri House in 2010. He served eight years in the House, from 2011-2018, before being forced out by term limits. Smith became acting chair of the party on Thursday.

He says access to health care is critical. He’s pushing for Amendment Two, which will be on your August 4th ballot.

“We believe the state has an appetite for it (Medicaid expansion),” Smith says. “I think the governor saw that too. We saw some jockeying of dates for that ballot initiative being moved to August.”

Medicaid, which is officially known as MO HealthNet, is a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents who have limited incomes.

Medicaid expansion supporters, including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, say it will create more than 16,000 new jobs annually during its first five years. Supporters also predict it will increase personal income by $1.1 billion annually.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, opposes Medicaid expansion, saying it would take dollars out of the classroom. He notes it requires a ten percent match, for the 90 percent draw down. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, says Medicaid expansion will blow a hole in the state operating budget.

As for Clem Smith, he’s confident that Missourians will approve Medicaid expansion at the ballot box next month. He says some GOP lawmakers who oppose Medicaid expansion also supported right-to-work, which Missourians rejected during a 2018 referendum.

“We saw that with the right-to-work that went through (signed into law by then-Governor Eric Greitens in 2017),” says Smith. “The people came and spoke and said we don’t want that, after members of the Legislature voted for it.”

67 percent of Missourians voted against right-to-work, at the August 2018 referendum.

Smith is also focusing on the November elections. He’s hopeful former Vice President Joe Biden (D) will carry Missouri this fall. The last Democratic presidential nominee to carry Missouri was Bill Clinton, who won here in both 1992 and 1996.

Smith is also focusing on the gubernatorial race and the statewide races. State Auditor Nicole Galloway, the presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee, is currently the only Democratic statewide officeholder. Smith also wants to see Democrats pick up seats in the Missouri Senate and Missouri House.

Republicans currently have supermajorities in both chambers. They control the Senate 23-8, with three vacancies. The GOP controls the House 113-48, with two vacancies.

Smith is also encouraging residents to fill out the U.S. Census, which takes place every ten years. He tells Missourinet the census is a nonpartisan issue.

“That’s very important because that determines the federal dollars that are coming into our state, how they’re allocated,” Smith says.

Each year, billions of dollars in federal funding goes to hospitals, fire departments and schools based on census data. The Census results also determine the number of seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Missouri now has eight House seats, and has lost two since 1980. That happened in 1981 and again in 2011, when the districts of then U.S. Reps. Wendell Bailey, R-Willow Springs, and Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, disappeared.

Smith replaces former Missouri Democratic Party Chair Jean Peters Baker, who is the Jackson County Prosecutor.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Missouri Democratic Party acting chair Clem Smith, D-Velda Village Hills. It was recorded on July 6, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bh-clemsmithinterviewJuly2020.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, Elections, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: Amendment Two, former State Rep. Clem Smith, former U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, former U.S. Rep. Wendell Bailey, Medicaid expansion, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Missouri Democratic Party, Missouri House, Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, Missouri Senate, State Auditor Nicole Galloway, U.S. Census, Velda Village Hills

Floyd Warmann dies; served as Missouri Governor Hearnes’ top aide for eight years

April 17, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A St. Louis man who successfully ran Warren Hearnes’ 1964 Missouri gubernatorial campaign and served as Hearnes’ top aide for eight years has died.

The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City

Floyd Warmann, 87, died this week, according to the obituary from Ortmann Funeral Home in Creve Couer.

Mr. Warmann was involved in Missouri Democratic Party politics his entire life.

Hearnes, who was from southeast Missouri’s Charleston, served ten years in the Missouri House before being elected Secretary of State in 1960. Warmann ran Hearnes’ 1964 gubernatorial campaign, and was his top assistant for eight years in Jefferson City.

Hearnes was re-elected to a second term in 1968. He served as governor from 1965 to 1973.

Mr. Warmann later served on the St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners. Memorials are suggested to the BackStoppers organization.

Click here to read the full obituary.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: History, News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Backstoppers, Charleston, Floyd Warmann, former Missouri Governor Warren Hearnes, Jefferson City, Missouri Democratic Party, Ortmann Funeral Home, St. Louis, St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners

Missouri Democratic Party cancels Sunday’s presidential candidate forum in KC

March 4, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri Democratic Party has canceled Sunday’s presidential forum in Kansas City. In a statement today from the party, it says the Democratic presidential candidate field has narrowed significantly, with a possibility that it will continue to narrow even further in the coming days. The party says there are now too few candidates to make the “Show-Me Showdown” event viable.

Missouri Democratic Party cancels Sunday’s presidential candidate forum in KC

“Instead, we will welcome the remaining candidates to Missouri in the days ahead in preparation for the March 10 Primary,” the press release says.

Left in the race, as of now, include Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard.

A press release from Biden’s campaign says the former vice president will be in Kansas City and St. Louis on Saturday. Sanders’s campaign says the Vermont U.S. Senator opened four offices in Missouri over the weekend – in Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia.

Missouri’s presidential preference primary is on Tuesday. Even though they’re no longer in the race, Missouri’s ballot will still include Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, Cory Booker, Pete Buttgieg, Andrew Yang, Julian Castro, Mike Bloomberg and others.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Elections, News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Missouri Democratic Party, Missouri presidential preference primary, Show-Me Showdown, Tulsi Gabbard



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