Missouri Progressives: Thank These Four Candidates for What They Accomplished
L to R: U.S. Senate Democratic Primary Candidates Jewel Kelly, Jr., Carla “Coffee” Wright, Spencer Toder, Dr. Gena Ross
An open letter to Carla Coffee Wright, Dr. Gena Ross, Jewel Kelly Jr., and Spencer Toder
Dear Spencer, Mr. Kelly, Ms. Wright, and Dr. Ross:
We’ve just ended Missouri’s primary season. I had very little to do with it outside of following it with a reasonable amount of obsession from the relatively safe perch of a podcast.
Missouri is a state in decline. There’s just no getting around those words. I don’t need to explain to any of you how the supermajority in Jefferson City or the blistering impacts of neoliberalism are at fault for that. Knowing how history, white supremacy, demographic shifts, and the utter erosion of democratic norms got us here is one thing. It’s another to stand in defiance of them and run as an unapologetic progressive in Missouri, something which the four of you managed to do.
I lived in Los Angeles for just over half my adult life. My tenure there started in 1988, during the height of the crack epidemic that rocked that city (and the Black and brown communities ravaged by the racist, white supremacist fuckery that is the U.S. Drug War). In the 80s, thousands of people in Los Angeles, especially young people of color, were murdered annually.
Living during a time (and a place) like that certainly changed this girl from Webster Groves, MO. As a country, we are now well over three decades since that era, and while things have incrementally improved in some areas (especially Los Angeles), much has stayed the same. Today, the Republican Party is the most mainstream, powerful fascist party on earth. Just this past week, the ultra-right CPAC conference embraced Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban as one of its headlined speakers.
I moved back to St. Louis in 2016 to be closer to family and escape California’s high cost of living. The state of politics started crumbling everywhere in the country with Trump’s election, but it was even worse in Missouri. I still think Claire McCaskill’s re-election defeat in 2018, to Josh Hawley no less, has left a vacuum from which the mainstream Democratic Party in our state hasn’t recovered.
To say that the democratic base slumped into this midterm senate cycle is an understatement. I don’t know anyone who was confident that we’d have any energy, let alone energetic candidates. I could berate the base for its low voter turnout numbers or for favoring an heiress whose seismic ignorance is profound considering her vast privilege. While Valentine’s victory (and, by extension Lucas Kunce’s failure to disrupt her ascendency) is disappointing, it’s nothing as devastating (at least to me) as McCaskill’s 2018 defeat.
Watching the four of you push all the way to the August 2nd primary was nothing if not heroic.
To Spencer: I can’t say enough how much your strategy lit a fire within the progressive community across the state. As you know from talking to me, I share a conviction that primary campaigns can be platforms for “Doing well by doing good.” You used every ounce of your privilege and campaign resources to sign thousands of Missourians up for Medicaid, assist over 600 people in accessing the Childcare Tax Credit portal, and so much more.
To Ms. “Coffee” Wright: I deeply regret that we never had you on our podcast (this was our first midterm cycle in our 2-year history; we’ll do better next time, that’s a promise). That you have the drive to rev up a campaign not once but twice as a Black woman in Missouri is something that takes more grit, courage, and integrity than I suspect I’ll ever have. That grit and determination are why you came in just shy of third place (just a couple thousand votes behind Spencer).
To Mr. Kelly: Can I say to you how deeply impressive you are? I don’t think you realize the impact you’ve had on people. Your central message about mental health access in light of your own deeply personal tragedy was that much more inspiring. I encourage you to rest up and continue your brave work as a local stakeholder and advocate. We need visionary and emotionally intelligent activists like you desperately. Feel free to reach out to me personally if I can ever help you facilitate anything in our region.
Dr. Ross: How you engage with people, your directness, your frankness, and your unapologetic honesty: I’m going to do my best to mirror those things from here on out. Truly, I mean that. Progressives are fiery, and we often tend to lead with our frustration. You are clear-eyed about our problems as a state and a nation, but you speak from a place of profoundly informed experience (for our readers who don’t know you, Ms. Ross ran for U.S. House in MO’s 6th District in 2020).
A list of your educational and professional accomplishments for those readers who don’t know you:
Ph.D. in Public Policy & Administration and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Walden University in Minneapolis, MN
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from American Intercontinental University, Schaumburg, IL
Associates in Urban Ministries from North Central University in Minneapolis, MN
Associate Professor of Business at Kansas City Kansas Community College
Adjunct Instructor at Baker University- School of Professional Graduate Studies
You have what could easily be described as one of the most infectious smiles on the planet. You (and this is something you share with Rep. Bush) approach discussions about policy and leadership from a place of love and compassion. I need to do that more.
If I were to describe the constant across all four of your campaigns, it’s with one word: Love.
Love is what the four of you share—a love of country, our state, and most importantly, the people within them. I can’t imagine running on a progressive slate in this state right now (or maybe ever). I can’t imagine doing it as a Black person, let alone a Black woman. With Cori Bush’s staunch primary victory in her home St. Louis district, there will be more young people of color looking for role models.
We did when we were young. I’m fortunate to have gone to USC at a time when the country was still benefiting from the desegregation efforts of the 1970s. I don’t know if that remains the case. Still, while the USC School of Theater was primarily white, I benefited from the campus being situated in a deeply diverse part of the country. (That’s a long way of saying that my group of college friends were, and are, very intersectional.) Those Black and brown friends had so few role models they turned to each other (and pop culture figures) for representation and inspiration.
In my teens, 20s, 30s, and still today: There were very, very few Black people, let alone Black women, in Congress. According to the U.S. Representatives Archive, between 1950-1999, a total of 72 Black people (primarily men) served in the U.S. House. The history of the U.S. Senate when it comes to Black representation is even bleaker. No, you can’t count the total number of Black U.S. Senators on both hands, but just barely, and that only changed with the 2020 Election. Raphael Warnock is the 11th Black senator to be elected to the U.S. Senate in its 232-year history.
Gallingly, it would take until I was 23 for a Black woman to serve in the Senate. Carol Moseley Braun from Illinois was elected as the first-ever Black female senator in 1993. She would remain the only black woman elected to the upper chamber until now-Vice President Kamala Harris won her election to the U.S. Senate in 2016. (For any reader who doesn't know this: Today, there aren’t any Black women in the Senate. Readers, Missouri still has never elected a Black person to statewide office. Ever. In 2020, Alissia Canady attempted to break that pathetic and truly inexcusable streak. Regrettably, she only got 35% of the vote.)
As this state and nation struggle to remain free, liberal, pluralistic societies, it’s easy to become angry and cynical. Anger and cynicism help no one except the fascist who is now (likely) slated to be the next junior Senator from Missouri.
It’s easy to become frustrated that primary voters selected the Democrat the least skilled among you to defeat "the Eric" who won.
If Lucas Kunce is truly the fighter he claims to be, he will stay here in Missouri. He will reach out to all four of you to learn about the coalitions you built with a fraction of his resources. If Trudy Valentine and her team are genuinely interested in keeping Eric Schmitt out of the Senate, they will not just reach out to you. They will offer you the opportunity to come on board as campaign consultants and reward you financially.
The four of you have done plenty to earn a seat at her table. If she is trying to change this state, she will recognize that she can’t change it without the help of a group of self-funded, grassroots campaigners who did what they could to stop the further decline of this perilous state we all find ourselves in.
My deepest hope is that we can all work together to change course. I know that watching you work towards progress in this last cycle changed me.
In gratitude, love, and allyship:
Rachel