By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A Democrat has taken on a daunting task: attempting to win a state representative seat in northwest Missouri.
Jessica Piper, an American Literature teacher in Maryville, has been an activist, in particular for Moms Demand Action. Now, she has taken the step to put her name on the ballot, running in the 1st state Representative District in the far northwestern portion of Missouri.
Piper says she filed, in part, because of her experience in the last election.
“In 2020, I went to vote for my representative and there was no Democrat on the ballot and I just decided that it was enough,” Piper tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post in an interview.
What was it about that 2020 election?
“It was Trump,” Piper states flatly, “It was his rhetoric. It was the hatefulness that I was hearing. My family members, my own parents supported him and supported the language that he was using.”
Piper insists northwest Missouri has become Trump country and has become so deeply red, because northwest Missouri residents have so little choice.
“I think a big issue that we need to talk about is the fact that we don’t have Democrats to vote for,” Piper says. “So, a red-leaning state becomes a red, supermajority when there’s no one running.”
Democrats have had little success when they do run.
Incumbent 1st District Rep. Allen Andrews, a Republican, last had an opponent in 2018, when he easily defeated Democrat Paul Taylor, with Andrews winning nearly 80% of the vote.
There is no northwest Missouri seat in the Missouri House of Representatives held by a Democrat; none in all of northern Missouri for that matter. Missouri House Communications reports District 14 in Kansas City is the northernmost state representative district held by a Democrat with Ashley Aune holding that seat.
Five Republicans have filed to succeed Andrews in the Missouri House: Jasper Logan of Burlington Junction, Alan Bennett of Barnard, Holly Kay Cronk of Skidmore, Michelle Horner of King City, and Jeff Farnan of Stanberry.
Piper says she understands the odds.
“We haven’t elected a Democrat in 30 years in my district and part of that is because the Democrats left rural Missouri,” according to Piper. “So, part of that is on us. There weren’t people knocking on my door telling me that they’re a Democrat running. I didn’t see literature. I don’t see anyone in my area talking about Democrats and what they’re about.”
Piper rejects attempts to paint all Democrats with the same brush and tie them to national political leaders who poll poorly in the state.
“(U.S. House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on in Missouri, because we’ve been under Missouri GOP supermajority for two decades,” Piper says. “For 20 years, they have written the laws in this state. So, when you look around at the state and you see that we are 50th in teacher pay, you see that we are 49th in educational funding, you understand that that is a direct result of policies from the GOP.”
Piper describes herself as a teacher, small farmer, mother, and grandmother. She says she can relate to the residents of the 1st Representative District.
Piper says that while the Missouri Democratic Party has welcomed her candidacy, members of the party have told her she cannot win. Piper says she can.