Long Drives and Long-Shot Democrats

This is how we do it.

I was booked to speak two days back to back this week.

I started in Springfield and then I was over in Ste. Genevieve. The drive is about four hours between the two towns. I had driven to Springfield to speak to a group raising money for down-ballot candidates in Greene County and the surrounding area. A group raising money for pro-choice candidates.

A group after my own heart.

I was told the drive between Springfield and Ste. Genevieve is beautiful but my phone took me on the interstate and big highways for the four-hour drive instead. I was disappointed but I didn’t know which highway to take and my phone wasn’t having it. I was going to drive the interstate or my Google Maps navigator was going to abandon me.

I decided that if I had to travel the interstate, I would start the audio of Chernow’s Washington biography where I had left off a week ago.

Chernow finally finished his narrative on the war and George is back home, nearly broke, and being forced to entertain random pilgrims and royalty and former officers traveling to Mount Vernon to visit the war hero. The Washingtons were raising their grandchildren and trying to turn a profit on the neglected estate. I’m waiting for Chernow to narrate the Washingtons into the White House, but I feel like George and Martha will hate it.

I was so caught up in the Washington bio that I didn’t notice my gas light had started flashing. No worry…I was in civilization, though it was mostly small towns dotting the interstate. I saw a Mobile station and decided to stop, but not before seeing a big sign for Democratic State Rep nominee Jen Tracey on a highway.

As I was filling up in a little town called Bourbon, I texted Jen to tell her I had seen her sign and tell her how proud I am that she is running. I decided to run in and grab a Diet Coke before I got back out on the highway.

In the store, I ran into a lady who said, “You look familiar.” I told her my name, and she smiled and said, “I understand the assignment.”

Excuse me? Did I just find a liberal in the wild?

I got back into my car for the rest of the drive and thought about that interaction several times. How did I just happen upon a random lady in a small town who knew both me and the assignment — electing Democrats.

Maybe, just maybe, things are changing in Missouri.

When I finally made it to Ste. Genevieve, I was delighted. I had no idea this place existed. I mean, I had heard of the town, but it looked like I was driving into an old colonial town on the East Coast. I saw what I thought was French Colonial architecture. I am no student of architecture, but I’ve traveled enough to understand the feel.

I passed a sign that said that the town was settled by French Canadians and migrants in the 1730s — almost 100 years before Missouri was a state. This was the first permanent European settlement in Missouri.

Much of historic Ste. Genevieve’s charm is due to the remarkable preservation of the features of the colonial settlement.  Its narrow streets and fenced gardens surround some of the most significant eighteenth-century architecture of the nation.  These “French-colonial” style buildings were constructed from massive logs, hewn and set vertically to form the walls of the home.  Heavy timbers were mortised and pegged into sturdy trusses that supported the impressive hipped roof covering the house and its wide porches.  Fascinating variations of this architectural style, known as poteaux-en-terre and poteaux-sur-sole, are found in the historic homes of colonial Ste. Genevieve, as well as in Quebec and Normandy. 

I drove around the town and stopped at a restaurant with sidewalk dining to grab a bite and look through my notes for the event that evening. I realized I was right down the road from the theater I’d be speaking in. I walked down the street looking at the houses and art galleries and shops and architecture. The town is gorgeous.

Reader, I hope you have a chance to visit.

The organizers for the Ste Gen event had contacted me months before, and I could tell from the emails that this wasn’t their first rodeo. They had booked a theater. They had a pie auction. They had invited state-wide candidates. And they had booked me to speak and then emcee the rest of the evening.

The place was packed. Ste Gen has about 5,000 residents and I know there had to be at least 150 folks in that theater. I came early with one of the organizers and was able to speak to folks in the area. There were so many people surprised to see their neighbors at a Democratic event. So many surprised to see that they are not alone. So many surprised to know that they didn’t just comprise tiny blue dots, but a healthy minority.

Orris Theater, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.

A woman introduced herself as a local union member who told me that her union was endorsing Republican Mike Kehoe for Governor. I talked to her at length about Mike Kehoe — he is a Right-to-Work guy who also voted to shorten the time Missouri residents can collect unemployment. He is not a union guy. Mike Kehoe is anti-union and pro-corporation.

I spoke to two teachers who are organizing an Educators for Harris call. Both women are veteran educators and have grown tired of Missouri Republicans defunding public schools only to send that money to private religious schools. They are tired of the low pay and the brow-beatings Missouri teachers take at the hands of the GOP. They are tired of book bans and harassment. They’ve decided to take matters into their own hands and create a call to unite teachers across the country. They are both local to Ste. Genevieve.

I spoke to so many attendees who said they can’t believe what has happened to their state in the last twenty years. People who said local hospitals have closed. Folks who said they couldn’t find childcare in the surrounding rural areas. People who said their kids moved away and won’t come back. People who said this was a union town and that the union folks have been duped into voting against their self-interest and that many couldn’t vote in their self-interest even if they wanted to because they didn’t have Democrats to vote for in election after election.

I spoke to nominees for state house and congress and county positions and state-wide positions and all I felt was excitement. There are people running in seats who are unlikely to flip the seat in one cycle, but they are doing the work anyway because it matters. Constituents matter. The state matters.

This is how we do it.

I spent the night with my new friend who has a lovely basement apartment and I set out around 5am the next day. It was a six-hour drive back to Northwest Missouri and I had two more events to prepare for that week. I was in Ray County, Missouri…Josh Hawley country and then to St Joseph for a screening of the documentary “Bad Faith” and a panel discussion to follow.

Ray County Democrats. Richmond, Missouri.

In all, I spoke to about 400 Missourians this week. I talked about running everywhere and funding nominees in the toughest and reddest districts in the state. I talked about what a GOP supermajority has done to our state. We’ve gone from a bellwether status to a deep red near-theocracy within two decades. But, I also talked about where we go from here and how we are doing it cycle-by-cycle and candidate-by-candidate.

I drive across this state to remind folks of who they are and what our state used to be. I drive to promote the long-shot candidates who need our help and our support knocking doors and making calls and doing the work. I drive to be a cheerleader — to have pep rallies and excite local Democrats. To let them know they are not alone. Not even in our rural spaces.

I drive across this state because it’s worth it. Because our children and grandchildren deserve the Missouri we remember.

Because this is our state too.

~Jess

P.S. A huge shout-out to the Democrats organizing in spaces across this state, but especially to those organizing in rural red spaces. I see you. Keep going.