An Opinion Editorial
by Chris Hayday, Ozark Chapter Political Chair
This last round of elections was certainly interesting, to say the least. With only two weeks until Election Day, Democrats were poised to expand their lead in the Senate, re-take the House, and capture the majority of the Governor’s mansions that were up for grabs. Then the President, or perhaps more accurately his advisors, decided to take his 63% personal popularity ratings (not to be confused with job approval) out for a test drive. So President Bush spent 13 straight days on the campaign trail.
Comforting to know that this “war on terrorism” isn’t getting in the way. So, the President hops from campaign site to campaign site stumping for the Republican candidates he needs in Congress so he can rush his agenda through the legislative process. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party fails to counter, claims “me too” whenever a Republican pledges their support for the President’s war on evildoers, and effectively responds by going AWOL.
The result? Nearly all of the close races broke Republican. By slim margins in virtually every race, the Republicans retook the Senate and expanded their majority in the House. They won all the races they had to and even won many races in which the experts considered their chances less favorably than the flying pig. As for those can’t-lose governors races, a Teamster-endorsed Kennedy lost the Maryland Governors race, Georgia elected its first Republican Governor since 1872, and a Democrat once again failed to be elected Governor in Massachusetts.
Perhaps the Grateful Dead said it best proclaiming, “what a long, strange trip it’s been.”
Knowing that everyone is interested in how our candidates fared, below is the final tally of how Sierra Club-endorsed candidates performed on election night:
U.S. Senate
- Jean Carnahan LOST
U.S. House
- 01 William L. Clay, Jr. WON
- 05 Karen McCarthy WON
MO Senate
- 04 Patrick Dougherty WON
- 14 Rita Days WON
- 24 Joan Bray WON
MO House
- 23 Robert (Jeff) Harris WON
- 80 Ted Hoskins WON
- 24 Chuck Graham WON
- 83 Barbara Fraser WON
- 25 Vicky Riback Wilson WON
- 87 Marilyn Morton LOST
- 30 Margaret (Meg) Harding LOST
- 90 Rick Johnson WON
- 44 Jenee Lowe WON
- 91 Scott Sifton LOST
- 64 Bob Hilgeman WON
- 105 Harold Selby WON
- 73 Margaret Donnelly WON
- 110 Belinda Harris WON
- 82 Sam Page WON
For the Ozark Chapter, election night was a mixed bag. Most of our endorsed candidates won, but there were many local victories that were unfortunately soured by some losses. At the top of “bummer” list is the defeat of Senator Jean Carnahan. We Sierrans should pat ourselves on the back for our efforts, from the EVEC program in St. Louis to phone banking in Springfield, as our hard work made the environment an issue and translated it into support for Senator Carnahan. Sadly, she was plagued by the Democrats’ inability to effectively campaign. The Republicans now control the White House and both chambers of Congress, so it’ll be much easier for the eco-thugs to work their evilry. We still have some allies, in both Democratic and Republican camps, but we have our work cut out for us. We lost a friend in Senator Carnahan, and the Sierra Club should say a big “thank you” for her support of environmental protection.
I am very excited about Joan Bray’s election to the Missouri Senate. As a State Representative, Joan has long been one of the best friends the environment has ever had in Jefferson City, and her victory gives us another advocate; something we desperately need. She won in a Republican leaning district and Joan’s win shows that our messages resonate with suburban Republicans. We should be optimistic about finding support from these moderate Republicans. I’m also excited about Belinda Harris’ win. The 110th House District (Washington and Jefferson Counties) is a conservative Democratic district and Belinda is a true environmentalist. She won convincingly, and we’ve gained an advocate and ally.
I’m very upset about Meg Harding’s loss (H-30). Meg was a great supporter of ours and we lost a great environmental legislator. This was an extremely tough race and Meg lost by only a handful of votes. This is most upsetting because I don’t feel that I did enough. We were handcuffed with only 66 members in this district and I’m not sure what else could have been done, but I know that we should have done more.
With statewide Republican victories, the Missouri General Assembly now rests in Republican control with Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. This creates several interesting situations and leads me to not expect much to happen during the next legislative session. I believe there will be so much in fighting amongst the Republicans and so much hostility from the Democrats that it will require a special session just to complete the budget. However, we will need to be vigilant and ever watchful for sneak attacks. Given the budget situation, there will likely be attempts to gut DNR’s budget and other environmental and public health protection programs. This will be an extremely defensive session and I see little hope of passing anything, which sometimes isn’t all bad.
With so many new faces in Jefferson City, it is more important than ever that we make our voices heard. Your newly elected legislator campaigned on the promise of doing something for you so it is your responsibility to let them know what it is that you want. We will need to call and write our elected officials and let them know what we expect of them, and publicly applaud them when they get it right and scold them when they get it wrong.
I want to thank everyone who voted on November 5 as you made a difference. I’d like to further thank everyone who made a phone call, walked a neighborhood, gave money, placed a yard sign in front of their house, called a radio show, wrote a letter-to-the-editor or convinced someone to vote for candidates who pledged to protect the environment and public health. Your efforts and involvement matter.