With a year to go before the 2022 elections, Rep. Tracy McCreery said she hopes to continue her legislative work in the Missouri Senate.
McCreery, a Democrat, is running for what is now Sen. Jill Schupp’s SD 24 in St. Louis County. With no opponents so far and Schupp’s endorsement right out of the gate, McCreery said she hoped to continue shepherding education, health care, and tax legislation in the upper chamber.
“There’s a lot more work to be done, and that’s why I’m running for the state Senate,” McCreery said. “I feel like I have really fine-tuned my skills of being able to work with others in the House because I can work with people in both parties and both chambers, but I’m not a pushover. I do feel like I’m going to be way more effective for my constituents when I move over to the Senate.”
McCreery joined Sunday’s episode of “This Week in Missouri Politics” to discuss the 2022 elections, paid family leave legislation, and an ongoing bipartisan effort in the General Assembly to close a loophole allowing domestic abusers access to firearms. Despite gaining traction this year, the effort failed to cross the finish line — though McCreery committed to pushing the measure forward once again next session with her colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
“It says if someone’s been convicted of something violent or there’s been a restraining order against them that they should not be able to have access to guns — and this is all done through the courts; it’s not a ‘he said, she said’ kind of thing,” McCreery said. “We have to be doing more to protect women and children from their abusers.”
Education
State Reps. Jim Murphy and Gretchen Bangert, House candidate Ken Waller, and FSB Public Affairs’ Ryan Hawkins joined this week’s panel to discuss education, from the Missouri School Boards’ Association’s withdrawal from the national organization to critical race theory (CRT) and mask mandates.
Murphy, a Republican, vowed to file legislation next session to increase school choice in Missouri.
“We need to get our schools back to teaching kids,” Murphy said. “The emails I’m getting, the phone calls I’m getting, the screams I’m getting in the street are saying we need choice.”
Bangert, a Democrat, said mask mandates would likely be eased as vaccination rates increase. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine for children aged 5-11 last week, opening the option to more than 533,000 Missourians. Less than 50 percent of the state’s overall population has been fully inoculated.
“I think people are tired. I know I’m tired. Everyone’s tired of this pandemic,” Bangert said. “We need to get through it. Kids now have access to the vaccine, so let’s hope that enough of them get the vaccine to where they don’t have to wear the masks.”
Watch the full episode of “This Week in Missouri Politics” below, or listen to the podcast version here.
Cameron Gerber studied journalism at Lincoln University. Prior to Lincoln, he earned an associate’s degree from State Fair Community College. Cameron is a native of Eldon, Missouri.
Contact Cameron at cameron@themissouritimes.com.
