Flipping A Suburban State Senate Seat That Trump Won In Missouri

Recently, Missouri state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal introduced me to a state Rep from a nearby district, Deb Lavender, who she described as very strong and as "the one elected person the Senate's Black caucus can count on to carry our justice and equity issues in the House. She asked me to speak with her and I did and was impressed enough to add her to the Blue America 2020 list of state legislative candidates, which you will find by clicking on the ActBlue thermometer below.

Deb is running for a state Senate seat (SD-15) southwest of St. Louis, a suburban area from Kirkwood and Sunset Hills through Fenton, Ballwin and Twin Oaks to Sherman and Clarkson Valley. 91% white, well-off and well-educated, it's a swing district that has swung away from Trump this year. The Trump-Republican incumbent, Andrew Koenig, was reelected with Trump in 2016, beating Stephen Eagleton 62,988 (61%) to 40,193 (39%). Deb was reelected to her house seat (HD-90)-- which is entirely within the boundaries of the senate district-- in 2016 56-44% and in 2018 the Republicans didn't bother putting up a candidate against her. Two polls show Deb running slightly ahead of Koenig, a Republican poll showing her beating him by 5 points and a Democratic poll showing her beating him by 6 points. This is a very flippable seat, one Trump won in 2016 and then Claire McCaskill won in 2018.

I asked Deb to share a guest post with us about what issues are motivating her run for the state Senate against a fairly entrenched very conservative Republican. Below is what she had to say; please read it and consider clicking the 2020 legislative thermometer on contributing to a campaign that rreallyis very likely to come out ahead in November in a state where progressive Democrats don't always have such good news.


Early this year, the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the nation, not like a heavy winter snow that covers everything in sight, but like a hurricane whose wind ravages everything it encounters. The deadly virus has brought into bight floodlights the stark contrast of economic and health disparities across our nation. For too many decades, with continued regularity, we have seen a lower life expectancy in zip codes of poverty, we have seen our young black men and women killed at the hands of the police, always with an excuse that the officer felt threatened in one way or another. These videos seen on the nightly news and all social media platforms have penetrated into the lives of society so powerfully, that we can no longer overlook or ignore the structural inequities baked into our society. As we watched the virus devastate communities of color due to long standing health issues, we also watched the economic devastation hit these same communities, and then we watch a police officer kill George Floyd. The convergence of three distinctly tragic time episodes has created great upheaval in our country. The large protests, the horrible demonstration of brutality on so many videos, the destruction of communities has happened before. Will this time be different?

It feels as if our society has shifted, but time will tell. Will this be one more incident that is a horrible moment in America’s history or will it be the landmark in the road that alters our path and produces alterations in society that are long needed for a nation that works for everyone.

Getting the virus under control will tax us all in ways we have not encountered before. The pandemic of 1918 ravaged the nation and left millions dead in its path, yet moved with speed across the nation. Six months into the pandemic we are being told we have not seen the worst of what is still to come. Today (August 14, 2020) over 162,000 thousand lives have been lost in our nation and more than 1,325 in Missouri a state where I serve as a State Representative.

Missouri’s Governor Mike Parson (who inherited the job when previous Governor Greitens resigned from a sex/ethics scandal) has not taken actions that have helped our State control the virus. Today, as thousands of people get sick in our state and hundreds of people die, Governor Parson has called a special session for ‘law and order’ because people are dying from gun violence. Nowhere in his preferred actions for the special session calling for a decrease in this violence, is an admission that Missouri’s own lack guns laws are to blame for children having easier access to guns, nowhere in his preferred actions for the special session calling for a decrease in this violence, does he address inadequate, expensive and scarce housing, healthcare, food insecurities, education, or transportation for our communities. Instead he wants to impose more felonies and demand higher levels of incarceration. His most recent request of the General Assembly is to allow the Attorney General of Missouri to have concurrent jurisdiction in the City of St. Louis to prosecute cases the sitting Prosecutor has declined to prosecute. He specifically singles out and targets St. Louis City. There is no loss on the community and people of this state that this is the only Black women prosecutor in Missouri. Instead of looking to resolve the fundamental causes of violence, adding another layer of ‘law and order’ is just putting icing on a mud pie. More police and longer prison sentences will never be the solution to problems that has existed for hundreds of years.

I have served as a State Representative for Missouri’s District 90, representing a near west county suburb of St. Louis, since being elected in 2014. I have worked for healthcare since my first day on the House floor. Missouri has been one of the Republican states that have not expanded Medicaid and I have consistently asked, and worked for expansion. Voters in our state finally had enough of the inertia from the legislature and signed petitions to put expansion before the voters and the measure passed earlier this month (August 2020) by 53%-47%. We have cleared one hurdle to expand healthcare, but in a super majority Republican state that has never expanded the measure, the second hurdle is implementation. Having served on the House Budget Committee for the past four years I know Missouri has the capacity and financial ability to expand healthcare for our hard working families, and I know how to get that job done. My opponent has consistently voted against expanding healthcare.

There is always the same ongoing issues that are important to people living in all states (and again, the significant disparity of these issues has been further highlighted during the coronavirus), are affordable and accessible housing, free access to a good public education with tools for the global economy for all our students, accessible transportation, access to fresh foods, clean air, and water.

We must as a people, shake the foundation this nation was built upon. The 1619 Project championed by Nikole Hannah-Jones has taught so many Americans the importance of this date in history and how our nation’s foundation was built upon the original sin of slavery. We have yet to extract this nation from the structure of racism that was started in 1619 and continues to exist today. We need good people to want to serve for the betterment of society. We need people to be passionate and tireless, as the work never stops.

I love my job as a State Rep working for the people in my community and the state. As a Democrat in a super-minority in Missouri I am often on the losing side of votes. I have an analogy of what it means to serve in a super-minority. Every morning 48 Democrats get up, shower, dress and go to a tug of war contest. The 48 of us stand on one side of the line and the 115 in the Republican majority stand on the other side. We lose every day; we get pulled over, dirty, bruised and sometime bloody. Our bills don’t get referred to committee so we don’t get to talk about the housing crisis, upgrading our public education with tools for the global economy for all our students, accessible transportation, access to fresh foods, clean air, or for clean water. I was never able to pass Medicaid expansion and fortunately, through the voters of our state, we now have a chance to do that. It can be frustrating and yet, this is the time I get to serve in the Missouri’s legislature. We have term limits so our time is limited and this is the time I get to serve, in a super minority, when often all I have is my voice for the people I represent.

A year ago I made the decision to run for State Senate against one of the most conservative Republicans in our state, Andrew Koenig. Being in the State Senate will allow me the opportunity to have a larger platform in order to make the changes we want to see in this state and the nation. Senate District 15 is a typical suburban district that has trended Democrat over the last decade and so much more these last 4 years. Our early polling shows we can win the race, and of course I need to get my message out to the district. My team and I have worked hard over the last year and have made great in-roads, especially during this challenging time. Please check out my web-site and Facebook page to see what we have been up to this year. As we get closer to this election there is terrific excitement in our ability to flip a long held male Republican seat for a Democrat woman.