Issues
Women’s Reproductive Rights
Like me, my mother was a survivor.
After I went to college, she shared a painful truth with me. She was raped as a young teen and had an abortion in a room in the back of a local bar. She learned she had no rights or say over her own body.
When one of my sisters got pregnant at the tender age of 13, she was denied an abortion by our father despite abortion being legal. I’d say I can’t imagine a child having to bring a child to term because I don’t have to imagine it.
Nor do those children who are forced to do the same today, so many decades later.
Women should have the right to make healthcare decisions with their doctors. The government shouldn’t have any say over our bodies. I’m horrified that my teenage granddaughters have fewer rights than their mothers—and my own sister—had.
Women fought hard to obtain the right to bodily autonomy. (Did you know that married women didn’t have the right to use contraception until 1965? Unmarried women didn’t have that same right until 1972.)
I’m worried that if we don’t stop them now, women won’t have any rights left.
The attacks on reproductive healthcare must stop. I’ll see to it they do.
Union and Labor Advocate
Union labor made our country what it is.
I watched as my husband stood up and fought for union rights as a laborer, business manager, and president of Laborers’ Local 663. When Republicans in our Missouri legislature put another so-called right-to-work ballot in front of voters, I gladly passed out signs. I knocked on numerous doors in several rural counties. I patiently explained why “Right to Work” needed to be defeated.
As happy as we all were to see that cynical plan fail, the attacks haven’t stopped.
The GOP’s attack on paycheck deductions continues. This war against unions will never end.
It’s a constant fight each legislative session.
The GOP has the money and resources to pay lobbyists to feed bills to our state representatives, the very folks we elect to represent we, the people. Destroying unions, collective bargaining, paycheck deductions, and reducing worker pay are central tenets of today’s Republican Party.
Not on my watch. I will continue my tireless fight for workers and our right to organize.
18 rural Missouri hospitals have closed since 2015. OB-GYN providers are leaving our state due to Missouri’s draconian abortion law.
Ongoing attacks against Planned Parenthood prevent low-income Missourians from accessing essential cancer and health screenings.
In rural Missouri, we must either travel hundreds of miles to visit a doctor or wait weeks to see a specialist. Healthcare costs continue to rise, leaving many without the life-saving care they need.
Healthcare is a right, not something you should have only if you can afford it. Nothing about healthcare deserts is pro-life. As an advocate, I’ll be a crucial vote in forcing our legislature to include Medicaid (an expansion voters passed!) is funded every year without ugly, wasteful court battles.
Healthcare for All
Youth Advocacy
As a retired agent of the court, I support law enforcement. Today, peace officers need better training, equipment, and higher salaries. Rural communities can’t compete with our urban centers. Our rural tax base can’t afford to give officers what they need to keep themselves and our rural community members safe. The state needs to provide funding or, at the very least, more grants to struggling rural communities.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed positive reforms in our juvenile justice system. Many rural communities still lack adequate resources to implement proven methods to reduce juvenile crime. We need increased funding for mental health services, healthcare, family-centered services, and educational programs that focus on reducing risk and addressing trauma and behavioral issues.
Each year, I facilitate advanced case management training on behalf of OSCA. Yes, our professionals get the skills they need, but without funding, they’ll still have one hand tied behind their backs.
Our social welfare system is not properly tracking these youth who are placed in foster care or residential facilities. All facilities should be subject to state oversight.
All of this requires more money, which the state has. We just need the will. And that’s where I’ll bring all of my critical knowledge of the court system as an advocate for those Missouri families and children.
Public Education
Supporting public education and colleges is very important to me. My public education and the teachers and educators who mentored me empowered me to accomplish things I wouldn’t have been able to do without them.
Funneling our tax dollars to fund private institutions and religious schools defunds our public educational system. With some of the lowest pay in the nation, our teachers deserve competitive salaries and a living wage.
We know we can do better. With me in the Missouri House, we will.
Common Sense Gun Laws
My family enjoys hunting. We still feed our family with the meat we get from it. But we all know we need change in our state.
Red flag laws and background checks are basic steps to help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Allowing youth to have and carry military-style weapons increases violence in our communities. It’s time to change the conversation regarding the 2nd Amendment and stand-your-ground laws.
No one is truly safe from gun violence.
No one is safe until we are all safe.
Saving Missouri’s Precious Farmland
We have to stand up to foreign-owned agriculture giants and protect what is left of the family farm while working to undo the special interest giveaways Republican leaders have enabled for a generation.
Republicans in Jefferson City know they are out of step with Missouri families and use political theater to give themselves cover with watered-down bills that don’t go anywhere. In reality, nothing has changed.
We have to fight to make sure that this remains a top priority in our state and that our important local resources and profits stay where they belong: Right here at home.
I’ll Fight for the LGBTQIA Community!
After 40 years of public service (32 in juvenile justice and eight in education), I will continue to fight for the rights of the LGBTQIA community. I’ve seen enough from the GOP supermajority in Missouri to know how hard we all need to work to protect the most vulnerable among us.
Republicans preach limited government to our faces but file bills that would exclude, silence, and even punish those whom they label “unacceptable.” Our government should protect all citizens, not exclude and punish any of them. It’s another example where the GOP’s version of “small government” means small enough to fit in your bedroom, public restrooms, and doctor’s offices.
We can—and—must do better.
Protecting Our Local Farming Communities
My husband grew up on a family-owned and run dairy farm. We had our own dairy cows as part of the family operation and I worked alongside everyone. Because of the drop in milk prices during the Reagan Administration, we had to sell out. It was a painful time for us all. With most small farmers not able to survive, I know firsthand how important those family-owned farms are to local communities.
And they’ve never been under more threat than they are now.
Family farming is being replaced with large-scale factory-style operations. Republicans who get paid by corporate PACs and big lobbyists undercut our ability to protect our water. Corporate farming conglomerates prevent fair pricing and better transparency. I will not stand by while our way of life is being sold out from under our feet.