State Rep. Deb Lavender is “prepared to do all the work” needed to win her Senate campaign, she said Sunday on “This Week in Missouri Politics.”
Lavender, who is still eligible for one more term in the House, decided to throw her hat in the ring for SD 15, after the governor signed a strong anti-abortion bill into law earlier this year. She’s challenging Republican Sen. Andrew Koenig, a member of the Conservative Caucus who championed the bill.
“I think I can make a difference. I think the issues I’ve worked for for my career — healthcare, public education, common sense gun measures — I think those are the values in this Senate district,” Lavender said on Sunday’s show.
Lavender said while her social policies can be “more progressive,” she believes voters will find her to be “conservative in the budget area.”
“I look at where we’re spending money. Just because we have a good idea, doesn’t mean we have the money for it,” she said.
A member of the House Budget Committee, Lavender said there are several budgetary needs in Missouri, from healthcare to education to public defenders.
“We have needs that aren’t being served,” Lavender said.
Missouri’s tax credit system
State Rep. Tracy McCreery, Missouri Republican Party treasurer Pat Thomas, consultant Cassie Grewing, and St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy joined host Brittany Robbins on the panel to discuss the tax credit system in the state. A Senate committee has dived into Missouri’s tax credits during the interim.
Thomas predicted the committee will “come out with some good initiatives” after it’s concluded.
“It’ll be interesting to see if when you throw those out on the floor of either the House or the Senate, how those items can move themselves when they get put up against other issues that will be hot issues of the day,” she said.
McCreery said one particularly “important” credit to both rural and urban areas is the domestic violence shelter tax credit, a program the committee heard about last week.
“As we know, it can be harder to fundraise to keep shelters open in rural areas,” McCreery noted.
Catch the full episode of “This Week in Missouri Politics” below for more on 2020 elections, Medicaid expansion, and self-deleting text message apps.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
