On the latest episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, former Missouri Ethics Commission executive director Liz Ziegler joins the show to answer a slew of listener questions about the state's byzantine campaign finance laws. Also on the program: Democrat Lucas Kunce makes the case about why he has a chance against GOP Sen. Josh Hawley. And the state's trade union members talk about how they're approaching the 2024 election.
On paper, Illinois’ 13th Congressional District could be winnable for a Republican, but it will be an uphill battle for Joshua Loyd, who’s hoping to unseat incumbent Nikki Budzinski in November.
The biggest factor working against Loyd, R-Virden, is cash. At the end of the second quarter, Budzinski, D-Springfield, held a 123 to 1 fundraising advantage over her GOP challenger in the race to represent the district which stretches from the Metro East to Urbana-Champaign.
“I'm not concerned at all with the finances because I'm actually out there talking with individuals,” Loyd said on the latest episode of the Politically Speaking podcast. “This is not necessarily a money game. People always say it's about the money. No, it's about being analytical, understanding where to put your effort.”
On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, author Heather McGhee talks about her support for a ballot item raising Missouri’s minimum wage.
McGhee is a New York-based attorney who wrote the New York Times best-selling book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. Part of her work involved following the movement in Missouri to raise the minimum wage, particularly in the Kansas City area.
“I wanted to come back and see what was going on, and I'm really thrilled to see the amount of broad-based support for something that should be common sense, which is that people should not work all day and come home in poverty,” McGhee said. And they should be able to earn sick time to take care of themselves and their loved ones.”
On the latest episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, STLPR's Jason Rosenbaum talks with St. Louis County election directors Eric Fey and Rick Stream about GOP secretary of state nominee Denny Hoskins' push to hand count ballots. Rosenbaum also talked with voters in Illinois and Missouri who are getting involved in this year's presidential election — even though the results in each state are not in doubt. Rosenbaum also caught up with Wake Up to Politics' Gabe Fleischer, who has been writing about politics since he was a 9-year-old St. Louis County resident.
Rep. Richard Brown, Assistant Missouri House Minority Floor Leader, returns to the show. The Kansas City democrat joins St. Louis Public Radio's Sarah Kellogg and Jason Rosenbaum to talk about his candidacy for Lt. Governor.
Democrat Randi McCallian is once again running for Missouri’s 8th Congressional District seat, a swath of southeast and southern Missouri that’s been represented by Republicans since the 1980s.
Even McCallian admits her run against GOP Congressman Jason Smith is an uphill battle.The 8th District used to have significant pockets of Democratic voters, particularly in the Bootheel region. But Donald Trump’s emergence supercharged the district’s drift to the GOP — a trend that McCallian said hasn’t been good for people who live in the district.
“Politics is now what I do, because people deserve to have a government that is made up by them and working for them,” McCallian said on an episode of Politically Speaking. “And that's not what we have here in Missouri — or especially in the 8th Congressional District.”
On this week's episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum talks with veteran political journalist Jo Mannies about the history of presidential debates at Washington University. Rosenbaum also talked about the upcoming presidential election with four students at MICDS. And Rosenbaum welcomes historian Cassandra Good onto the program to talk about the history of nepotism in American politics.
State Rep. Barbara Phifer declined to run for another term in the Missouri House, even though she was eligible to spend four more years in the General Assembly’s lower chamber.
But the Kirkwood Democrat chose instead to run for secretary of state. While the race for that office typically doesn’t get as much attention as the U.S. Senate or governor, Phifer said the stakes are high enough for her to throw her hat into the statewide electoral arena.
“This is the single most important statewide race in Missouri this year, and I could see that a year and a half ago,” Phifer said on an episode of St. Louis Public Radio’s Politically Speaking. “And so I told my husband, even as I was planning to retire: ‘Honey, you just need to know that if we don't have somebody on the Democratic side with experience who's running for secretary of state, I'm going to do that.”
Mark Osmack has been out of the electoral fray for awhile, but he never completely abandoned his passion for Missouri politics.
Osmack, a Valley Park native and U.S. Army veteran, previously ran for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District seat and for state Senate. During an episode of Politically Speaking, Osmack received a phone call from Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Russ Carnahan asking him to run for state treasurer.
“There's a lot of decision making and processing and evaluation that goes into it, which is something I am very passionate and interested in,” Osmack said.
Osmack is squaring off against state Treasurer Vivek Malek, who was able to easily win a crowded GOP primary against several veteran lawmakers — including House Chairman Cody Smith and Sen. Andrew Koenig.
Elad Gross, the Democratic candidate for Missouri Attorney General, is the latest guest on Politically Speaking. Gross, who ran for Attorney General back in 2020, spoke to St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum and Sarah Kellogg about why he decided to run again and how he believes the office can serve Missourians.
On the latest episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum talks to Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel about labor unions are approaching the general election cycle. Rosenbaum also talks with SLU political science professor Christopher Duncan about third party candidate in Missouri and American politics. And Rosenbaum expresses his immense frustration about political text messages.
Missouri's U.S. Senate race between Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democrat Lucas Kunce will likely be the most high-profile contest on the state's Nov. 5 ballot. But there is another candidate seeking the office: Better Party contender Jared Young. The Webb City resident talks with STLPR's Jason Rosenbaum about why he believes a candidate who isn't a Republican or Democrat can make an impact in the 2024 election cycle.
On the latest edition of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum talks with UMSL's Anita Manion and STLPR's Sarah Kellogg about Tuesday's primary results. Rosenbaum also spoke with Wesley Bell, Mike Kehoe, Crystal Quade and Bob Onder about their big wins — and what they could mean for Missouri politics.
On August 6, Missourians will go to the polls to decide some of the most important primary elections in recent memory. On the latest episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, STLPR's Jason Rosenbaum talks with Sarah Kellogg and Jo Mannies about the big things to look for when the results come in on Tuesday. Rosenbaum also talks with Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Mike Hamra about his primary campaign.
The latest episode of the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air features Democrat Lucas Kunce explaining why he should take on GOP Sen. Josh Hawley in the fall. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum also talks with former state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal about her bid for Missouri's 1st Congressional District.
On the latest episode of Politically Speaking, state Sen. Jason Bean joins St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Sarah Kellogg to discuss Gov. Mike Parson’s budget vetoes — and the future of the Missouri Senate.
Bean represents Missouri’s 25th Senatorial District, which includes Stoddard, Dunklin, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Oregon, Mississippi, Butler, Wayne and Carter Counties. The Holcomb Republican was elected to his post in 2020.
Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush is no stranger to confronting powerful political and civic institutions. After all, Bush challenged, and eventually defeated, Congressman Lacy Clay in 2020 — and before that became well known in St. Louis for her time in the protest movement that arose after Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson.
Now, Bush is facing another challenge on Aug. 6. She’s trying to outflank St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell and former state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal in a nationally-watched contest. Bush spoke with St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air. Rosenbaum also talked with state Sen. Karla May on her bid to take on GOP U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley in the fall.
Before he became attorney general, Andrew Bailey served in a number of roles — including a soldier, a security guard, a prosecutor and general counsel to Gov. Mike Parson.
And as the GOP statewide official faces a tough primary battle with St. Louis County attorney Will Scharf for the right to keep his job, Bailey is hoping that Republican voters see his collective experience inside and outside of politics as a compelling drawing point.
“I care about the state because it's home,” Bailey said on an episode of the Politically Speaking podcast. “I got to grow up in a Missouri that enjoyed freedom, safety, prosperity. And I want my kids and your listeners' kids and grandkids to enjoy those things as well.”
Republican Secretary of State candidate Jamie Corley joins the show. Corley speaks with St. Louis Public Radio's Sarah Kellogg and Jason Rosenbaum about her candidacy, why she filed an initiative petition that would have reversed Missouri's abortion ban and why she thinks her position isn't out of line with Missouri Republicans.
Over the past few months, Missouri attorney general hopeful Will Scharf became a familiar face on national news for his legal advocacy for former President Donald Trump.
Now, over the next few weeks, the St. Louis County attorney is hoping to make the case to GOP primary voters that he should replace Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
“I never really thought this was something that I would do,” Scharf said on an episode of the Politically Speaking podcast. “Friends of mine approached me about running and said that they thought it was really time to shake up Jefferson City and get more conservative outsiders, as opposed to establishment politicians and establishment people in the office.”
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