By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Democrats hope to make inroads in northwest Missouri this November.
It seems a tall task.
There are no Democrats serving as state representatives or senators in all of northern Missouri.
Assistant Missouri House Minority Leader, Rep. Richard Brown of Kansas City, still sees opportunity, saying it is important for Democrats to get out and talk with voters, even in the heavily Republican districts of northwest Missouri.
“Missouri is such a diversified state,” Brown tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “Not one Missourian is the same, whether we’re talking about northwest Missouri compared to southwest Missouri, we are very diversified in our state.”
Brown says that if Democrats want to make headway in the legislature, the party needs to get its message out. He says there are many independents in Missouri who vote Republican, because there are no Democrats on their ballot.
“They’re not actual Republicans, but that’s the way they vote, because that’s all that they know,” according to Brown. “And if they sit back and have an opportunity to meet with Democrats and find out what our goals are, what our initiatives are, I think they would see that we really try to fight and work for the people.”
Brown says the party is willing to back candidates running in Republican districts, noting that there are 50 uncontested House races with no Democrat on the ballot.
“That seems to be the attitude of some of the outlying, rural areas; that you can’t get elected unless you’re a Republican, but that’s not true,” Brown asserts. “What we’re looking for is we’re looking for qualified candidates, people of good quality, who want to run and want to run as Democrats and we will support them.”
Brown recently toured northern Missouri with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Trudy Busch Valentine of St. Louis. Brown says one of the reasons that there are no representatives or senators in northern Missouri is that the party has failed to field viable candidates.
There are currently 107 Republicans and 48 Democrats in the Missouri House with several vacancies.