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Plocher: ‘It’s important we stay united’

Rep. Dean Plocher, recently chosen to serve as House Majority Floor Leader for the next two years, said unity will be a major factor for Missouri Republicans going forward. 

“It’s important to me when we have the majority that we have to stay united,” Plocher said. “It’s important that every district have a voice on the floor. That’s what I grew up with five years ago watching Speaker Richardson, and I think it’s important to continue the dialog and hold authority together.” 

Plocher joined Sunday’s episode of “This Week in Missouri Politics” to discuss his new leadership position in the House, COVID-19, and the 2020 elections. Plocher said the number of conservative victories last week didn’t come as a surprise to him. 

“I don’t think it was a shock within us. We knew we worked hard; we had a great ground game,” Plocher said. “It’s a grassroots effort. I think really what resounded with the voters was our platform as conservatives.”

Plocher also covered the recently-passed Amendment 3, which essentially reverted redistricting changes made by Clean Missouri in 2018. He said Republican House members were at the forefront of an effort they “firmly believe was better for all Missourians.”

“It happened with strong leadership,” Plocher said, praising Speaker Elijah Haahr and Floor Leader Rob Vescovo for their work getting the issue from the floor to the ballot. “I think it’s better for all Missourians to have revisited that situation. The public was sold a bill of goods that was 14 pages long, and there was a great deal of falsity in what they were trying to sell. Fortunately, the state of Missouri revisited it.” 

2020 elections

Rep. Jim Murphy, Victory Enterprises partner Joe Lakin, attorney Jane Dueker, and attorney Sam Gladney joined this week’s panel to discuss the general election results

“I think we do have a unique position in Missouri,” said Dueker. “I agree with former Senator Claire McCaskill who was on TV saying ‘look, if Democrats don’t figure out a way to talk to some of these Trump people, figure out what it is that is driving them, we will continue to lose. What is making our country so divided, and what is on the other side that we need to be reaching out to?”

Gladney discussed President Donald Trump’s victory in Missouri, saying the margin showed the state’s dedication to the incumbent president. 

“Donald Trump has a lot of support in the state of Missouri,” he said. “After 2016 and this week, it’s true. Maybe that will change afterward, maybe we’ll be able to regroup and think some things out, but I think that by how much he won the state —16, 17 points — it’s going to be tough as a Democrat in this state to overcome that.”

Watch the full episode of “This Week in Missouri Politics” below.